Cold As Ice
by Saramis Kismet
Summary: While on vacation, rumors of a murderous ghost kidnapper in the mountains has danny on his toes, along with Sam's recent romance. Will he be able to save the victims of Avalanche before they're buried alive by the cold? Ship: AmyOc
1. Two Long Years

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: This is my first Danny Phantom fiction. I hope you all like it. For the action fans, you got it good. For the fluff fans, you got plenty of that too. By the way, Danny Phantom was created by Butch Hartman and is owned by him and Nickelodeon and anyone else who has the legal rights on file somewhere._

**Two Long Years**

"I am the Box Ghost! Ruler of all things three-dimensional and square! Also rectangular! Although I much prefer –"

"Ah, jeez, give it a rest already," Danny said, rolling his eyes and blasting an ectoplasm ray at the Box Ghost.

He tumbled through the air before righting himself and crying dramatically, "I, the Box Ghost, do not fear the ghost boy, but I shall flee to fight for another day!" He stayed in the spot for a few seconds staring at Danny before crying, "Beware!" and speeding off to pester some poor human moving into a house.

Danny sighed and flew back down to the alley where Sam and Tucker were waiting. "I really didn't have time for him," he said. "I still haven't even finished packing. And we're leaving in an hour."

"If it makes you feel any better," Tucker said smiling, "I packed two days ago!"

"Thanks, Tuck," Danny said with mock gratefulness. "That helps. A lot."

"Come on," said Sam, dusting off some dust from her skirt. "We'll help you finish. Our stuff is already there anyway."

Danny took a hold of Sam and Tucker's hands and lifted them into the air, turning them invisible and flying towards his house. It had been a long time since he'd acquired his powers in the summer before freshman year, and he'd gotten a lot better with his powers. He still hadn't seemed to capture the Box Ghost, however. For an idiot, he was very slippery. Now he was sixteen, and with the newfound abilities of normal sixteen-year-old boys, he had a car. Not the best car, but it was still a car. Sure, he could fly, but it was still a car. _Car_. And with this car came driving to distant places.

Mountain resorts, for instance.

They neared the house and Danny pulled his friends through the wall and into his room. He set them down and turned back into a human. His hair was a little longer than it used to be, but just as messy. He wore a mostly white tee shirt with a black and red Linkin Park logo, along with slightly worn blue jeans and black and red shoes. Sam had influenced him just a tad. Tucker's style hadn't changed much, but it was less geeky with an orange hoodie and khaki pants. He still wore his glasses and beanie. Sam still had to Goth thing going for her, only more sophisticated. She let her hair grow to her shoulders, and she wore a black long-sleeve shirt beneath her purple cami.

Sam looked around with a raised eyebrow. "Okay, when you said you hadn't finished packing, I didn't figure it was this bad." The room was worse than bad. Pretty much the entire floor was covered in clothes he'd thrown around trying to decide what to pack. Sam tried not to spot the boxers lying in random places. "This needs a woman's touch."

"Since when did you have the woman's touch?" asked Tucker, genuinely curious.

"Since I was given two X chromosomes through a process you're too young to know about," she retorted, throwing one of Danny's shirts into his suitcase. "It's an automatic thing. Danny, help me, these are your clothes in the first place."

"Come on, Sam, it's my birthday," he whined, laying down on his bed smiling. "Just do me a favor."

"Your birthday was two days ago."

"Point?"

Sam smiled mischievously as she spotted something on the floor. "I'll just pack these, then," she said, holding up an unopened pack of childish Spongebob briefs she found. Tucker covered his mouth to try and hide his laughter, but he failed horribly. The sound triggered Danny to sit up and when he saw Sam happily packing the underwear, he dove for the package, throwing it into the open closet.

"My mom bought those like, last year," he mumbled, blushing furiously and glaring at Tucker, who was now on the floor laughing. Sam giggled, receiving an accusatory glance from Danny. "What?" she asked. "I'm laughing at him, not you."

He sighed and nudged Tucker with his foot before moving back to his suitcase to pack with Sam. They were staying for ten days in a pretty cold area, so by the time they were through ten minutes later the suitcase was full to capacity. Also, Tucker had calmed down and was busy sifting through his PDA files as Danny forced the zipper to close the last two inches.

"Here's a fun fact," he said suddenly. "Tomorrow's the two year anniversary of you getting your ghost powers."

"It is?" Danny asked, taking the PDA from him and looking at the calendar. "You actually programmed that day in here?"

"It's been two years?" asked Sam. "Wow, we should celebrate when we get to the resort."

Danny looked at her curiously. "Why?"

"Oh, come on Danny," she said, "think of how far you've gotten since then. Think of all the things you can do now that you couldn't do when you started out. You can duplicate yourself without even trying hard now, you fly faster, and you're almost at Plasmius's level now." Danny gave her a dark look before she realized the last part was barely a compliment.

"And you've kicked ghost butt two hundred and eighty-four times now," Tucker added. At the looks from the others, he pointed to the PDA. "It keeps count."

Danny smiled. "Thanks, guys, but this already kind of is a celebration. We'll just throw in 'Anniversary' along with 'Happy Birthday'."

From below the floor came Danny's mother's voice. "Kids, come down and eat lunch before you go!" The three of them grasped their suitcases and left the less disastrous, though still messy room.

On the way down the stairs, Sam looked to Danny. "Hey… Danny?" He looked up at her. "What are we going to do while we're at the resort? About the ghosts, I mean."

"Sam," he whispered back, "this is vacation. I'm sure Amity can survive ten days without Danny Phantom."

"Yeah, Sam, lighten up," Tucker said from behind them. "We're going to have a ton of fun. Even though it's summer, it's so far north that the cold keeps the powder right for skiing."

Losing track of what they were saying, Danny looked at the steps he was walking down thoughtfully. Two years… had it really only been that long? Looking back on his human life, two years really did seem like a short time, but through Danny Phantom's eyes he felt much older than sixteen. Sam was right, he was getting up to Plasmius's level. Why'd he glare at her for saying that? It was true, and it was really a good thing. He was amazed that, through all the battles he'd had, that he was still sane. He had Sam and Tuck to thank for that, of course, and maybe in some small way…

Two arms grabbed him from behind when he reached the first floor. "I'm going to miss you so much!" said Jazz. "By the time you're back, I'll be unpacking my things in my dorm room in Florida."

Danny smiled slightly. "And you couldn't be happier, could you?"

"I'm finally getting out of this crazy town!" she exclaimed, letting go of him and walking with the three of them to the kitchen. "Not to mention this crazy hou-… oh, hi Daddy!" she said sweetly as Jack and Maddie came in, Jack holding some small technical device like he usually was. No one asked.

"Now, Danny," said Maddie, sitting a plate of sandwiches in front of them, "you need to promise me that the three of you won't get into any trouble at the resort."

"And by trouble," interrupted Jack, "she means messing with girls."

"I know the lack of authority will make you want to do some crazy things…"

"With girls."

"But don't think we won't drive up there and take you home."

"Away from girls!"

"Jack!" she said malevolently, shutting him up.

"I'd be more worried about one particular girl if I were you," Jazz said to Jack, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Sam and Danny.

Both of them sighed loudly and suddenly looked very angry. "It's not like I'd do anything to Sam," Danny said loudly.

"It's not like I'd let him," Sam added.

Jazz smiled wisely. "Of course you won't. Your just a few teenagers in a romantic resort, alone, and you happen to be opposite genders."

Tucker coughed. "Hello? I'm going to. No one's worried about what I'll do?" Silence. "Right, then."

"Look," said Danny, "for two years everyone's been thinking we're together. We're not. Is that not clear?"

"Don't you take that tone, mister, we can always take the car back," Jack said. After a few moments of Danny pleading to keep his car, they looked at the clock and noticed it was five minutes until they had to leave. They grabbed their suitcases and went outside to pack them in the back of the car. Danny checked his pockets for his wallet and reservation, then, with a last good-bye to his parents, got in the car and drove away for the highway.

* * *

"Finally, I am alone with my precious boxes to unleash… their power!" the Box Ghost cried, floating along in a storage room in the back of Amity Art History Mueseum. He sifted through the many boxes, tossing most of them to the side. "Where is a box that contains something I can use?" he cried dramatically as he reached the dusty back corner.

A filth covered chest was rested on the floor in the corner. A sign read **By Order of the A.A.H.M. Do Not Open. Dangerous Contents Within.**

"Dangerous contents?" he cried in joy. He blew the dust away from the chest to reveal that it was beautifully decorated with elaborate etchings and gems encrusted along the sides. The ghost blasted open the locks and looked inside. He was pushed away by an invisible force and a shadow was cast over the already dimly lit room. He looked up and in fright cried, "Beware!" and flew for the door.

_Author's Note: Hope you like it. I'm working on the second chapter now. In it, they'll just be driving there and checking in and looking around. Until then, review please!_

_XKismetX_


	2. Lighting the Fire

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, guys. Hope you enjoy this as well!_

**Lighting the Fire**

The entire trip would take three and a half hours, and an hour had passed by already. Music was blaring from the speakers and Danny and Tucker were in the front seats screaming lyrics. Tucker broke into an air guitar solo and Danny laughed. "At least you stopped singing," he said. Tucker punched his shoulder and Danny swerved a little in the lane. "Hey, watch it! I'm driving here!"

"Sorry, dude," Tuck said, leaning back and taking a bite of his beef jerky. "Man, how much longer?"

"More than two hours," he answered. He glanced into his rearview mirror as he was passing lanes, and noticed Sam in the backseat looking out the window frowning. She'd been abnormally quiet for the past half hour. She rested her forehead against the window and furrowed her thin eyebrows. Was something wrong? He was worried about her and found himself not looking away from the mirror as he thought about what could be going through her mind.

Suddenly, Sam looked into the mirror and their eyes met. Then Sam looked forward and shrieked, "Danny, look out!"

Her and Tucker screamed and Danny looked forward and saw that he was about to ram a car from behind. He yelped and slowed down to let the car in front get ahead a little. He was breathing hard and felt shaky. No one said anything for a while until Sam cried, "What were you doing?"

"S-sorry," he stammered. "I spaced out. Won't happen again."

"It had better not!" Tucker said, leaning back into his chair to calm down. "Jeez, if Sam's that big of a distraction then-"

"Why am I a distraction?" she asked accusingly, glaring at Tucker.

Tucker smirked and looked at Danny, who was focusing with all his might on the gray road. "He was staring at you in the mirror, Sam."

"Was not," Danny said. "I was… just… Sam looked upset about something. Are you okay?"

Sam's eyes flicked to him on alert, and she shrugged and smiled. "Uh, yeah. I'm okay." She was lying through her teeth. It wasn't that she was upset, exactly, but ever since the kitchen scene it'd been plaguing her mind: what exactly was going to happen at the resort? What would happen if Danny ended up doing exactly what his parents warned him not to do? What if Jazz's prediction came true? And why the hell did she care so much?

"You're sure?"

"Danny, I'm fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "Pay attention to the road, not me."

"Not as easy as it sounds, huh?" Tucker said, elbowing Danny with a broad grin on his face. He wanted to push his buttons and knew that talking about Sam did it better than anything.

No one said anything for the next few minutes. Danny's unmoving expression and Sam's moping made Tucker realize that maybe messing with them wasn't the best idea when no one could walk away or relieve stress by doing anything.

The silence was broken as they neared a small town. "There's a convenience store up ahead," Danny said. "You guys want to stop?"

"Sure," said Sam. "I need to walk around a bit."

"And I need more jerky," added Tucker, looking into the empty plastic. Sam tried to hold back a glare.

They pulled into the parking lot and entered the store. Tucker went to get his jerky, and Danny left to find a soda. Sam stood there, hands in her pockets, looking around awkwardly. When Danny came back to the counter, he spotted her expression and walked over to her. "Okay, something's up with you," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?"

She smiled brightly and said, "Nothing, I'm fine." Danny gave her a look that said 'I'm supposed to buy that?' She sighed and looked to the side. "Okay, I'm just thinking…. It's not important."

"Sam, if it's making you sad then it's important," Danny said softly.

Biting her lip, she finally said, "It's just that while we're at the-"

Danny shivered and a light blue vapor escaped from his mouth. Both of them perked up, looking around. Sam sighed in relief, almost thankful for the break. "Tucker's got the thermos," she said. "Go do your thing."

"You're not out of this," Danny said, walking briskly towards Tucker and then escaping to the restroom.

Sam hit her hand on her forehead and rubbed her face. She decided to buy a pack of gum just for the sake of it and grabbed a pack, tossing it on the counter just as someone else set a Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino down. She looked up and met green eyes, surrounded by eyeliner. A guy's eyes in eyeliner. She looked up and down to get a better view. He was a few inches taller than her, with black hair highlighted green, and black and green pants with a black and green Slipknot shirt. "Sorry," he said, smiling ever so slightly. "You first."

"Uhh… thanks," she said, startled at the sudden appearance of a brother-in-arms. She paid for the gum and stepped back, but she stayed by the counter to wait for Tucker. The boy paid for his drink and then didn't move. "Uh, hi. Want something?"

"Well, your name, for one," he said, smirking devilishly. Sam raised an eyebrow, but had to admit that he was attractive like that. Wait, what the hell was she thinking?

"Sam," she said automatically.

"I'm Ash," he replied. "Where are you from? I saw you come out of that car with two guys. You're not taken by one, are you? If you are than that's really unfortunate for me."

"You're pretty blunt, aren't you?" Sam said. "I'm from Amity and I'm with my friends on a road trip. No, I'm not really taken by anyone. And I don't really want to be," she added, crossing her arms. She didn't feel like flirting, even if he was really hot… shut up, Sam!

"Your choice," he said, shrugging. "I like your clothes, though. They fit you well."

"You seem to have a thing for green," she said.

He laughed. "Yeah, I kind of do, don't I? Favorite color, as I'm guessing purple is to you. Unique eyes, by the way. Contacts?"

Shaking her head, Sam said, "Natural. Don't ask, even I don't know. And you're unusually talkative, aren't you?"

Ash smiled again. "You're just someone I like talking to." He took a drink from his glass and said, "Well, I should be going. But I'm sure I'll see you soon. Are you sure you don't want to give me your number?"

Sam smiled with no humor. "No, not really. Grand effort, though, really. And what do you mean, see you soon?" Ash shrugged and left without another word and Sam rolled her eyes. It wasn't the first time a Goth had asked her out with her denying it. But never had one been so warm to her. Hell, hardly anyone ever was except Danny. And Tucker. Danny _and_ Tucker.

Tucker walked over to her with enough beef jerky to kill a cow as Sam instantly noticed. "Who was that guy? Was he bothering you?"

Sam shrugged. "Not really," she said. Danny suddenly appeared and walked over to them. Sam offered him a piece of gum, asking, "How'd the ghost thing go?"

"Hmm, pretty well," he said. "It was the Box Ghost. I don't know how or why he's here, but I got him in the thermos this time." He handed it back to Tucker and he put it away in the backpack he carried it in. "Tuck, are you sure can eat all that?"

"Sure," he said, flinging the two grocery bags over his shoulder. "I'm totally cool with this."  
They piled into the car and drove off, Sam's thoughts still on Ash. How come he was so sure they'd see each other again, and soon? Frightening thoughts of a car trailing behind them entered her mind but she shoved them away. He didn't seem like the obsessive stalking type. Then again, they never did. She shivered and Tucker noticed from the corner of his eye. "Are you cold? It's August, Sam."

"No, I'm not cold. I was just thinking."

"About," Danny said slowly. He was hinting to the conversation they'd started earlier, but Sam shook her head. "What, then?"

"Is it that guy who was bothering you?" Tucker suggested.

Danny turned his head around quickly. "What guy? Who was bothering you?" He looked to Tucker. "Why'd you let him?"

"Eyes, Danny," Sam said. Danny turned back to the road as Sam answered. "He wasn't bothering me, but yeah, I was thinking about that." No one said anything so she kept talking. "His name's Ash. He asked for my number and kept talking about how I looked nice. He said he'd 'see me soon' or something, so I was just thinking stupid thoughts about that."

It took a few seconds for Danny to answer. "Did you give it to him?"

"Give what to him?"

"Your number."

"No, _Danny_, I didn't give him my phone number. Don't you know me better than that?"

"But you still liked him, didn't you?" Tucker said conversationally. He didn't seem to be paying much attention, as he was busy IMing someone on his laptop.

"Well… he did look kinda cool, but he was… well… I don't know," she said. "He was okay." She reached into her small carryon and pulled out her CD case. She flipped through until she found a CD she felt like listening to. "My turn," she said, leaning forward and ejecting the CD that was inside and placing hers in its place.

* * *

Danny pulled into another gas station and hour and a half later. This time, he actually needed gas. Tucker got out to go to the restroom. Sam was sleeping in the backseat. He looked at her, wondering whether or not he should wake her up. No decision was needed, because Sam's eyes flickered open to see him staring at her. "What?"

He shrugged and opened his door. "We've stopped for a while. Do you need anything? Food, drink, restroom?"

Somehow Sam couldn't open her eyes properly, so she rubbed them furiously. "Nah, I'm good. I'll just hang here. Maybe go back to sleep."

"Did I wake you up?"

"No. I think the car not moving just triggered something." She stretched back out on the seat and closed her eyes. Danny tore his eyes away and went to fill up the tank.

All right, so he'd been thinking about her ever since their last stop. No reason to deny it. She was probably still upset about something since they still hadn't really talked about it. And then there was this Ash person… most of the male Goth and some of the punk population in their school had asked her out before, but for some reason he was reacting to him. Maybe it was because he was a complete stranger. What if he was some perverted freak? At least he hadn't been bothering her. If he had, he'd go ghost all over his… _Calm down, Danny. _

Speaking of ghosts, what was the Box Ghost doing so far out of Amity? Maybe there were ghosts all over the world and not just his town. They couldn't all be in one place, right? But then again, the Fenton Portal was where they all came out from. But didn't Plasmius have one? And there had to be other ways of ghosts getting into their world.

"Just chill out, Danny," he told himself. "It's vacation time. Danny Phantom can go MIA for a while without some big catastrophe happening." He laughed to himself. Really, what were the chances of anything bothering him at the resort?

Someone tapped his shoulder as he placed the nozzle back in the holder. It was Tucker. "Dude, I just saw that guy Sam talked to in the store," he said. "He was looking at me weird. Do you think he's following us?"

Just what he needed to hear, too. "Not us," he said. "Sam. But he could just be going in the same direction. He didn't talk to you, right? He might just have recognized you or something. Right?"

Tucker eyes his friend. "You're strangely calm. And your voice is giddy."

"Just being positive. I know he might be a freak though, okay? But don't you think we can take him?"

"Hah. _We_. Right," Tucker said, opening his door and sitting inside.

* * *

"Finally," Danny said, pulling into a parking space. "We're here."

Sam opened the car door and looked out at the snow-covered mountains. "Wow," she commented, stepping out. "I'm surprised it's this cold here. It's late summer."

Danny stepped out and stood next to her. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Totally cool," said Tucker, opening the trunk. "Awesome. We're staying here for ten days without parents. This is going to be the best ten days ever."

"Yes. Perfect. Parent free, school free, ghost free-"

"Heat free," added Sam, rubbing her arms. "Hand me my bag so I can get inside. It looks warm in there."

Tucker yanked her bag out from under a bag of games and DVDs, which clattered to the bottom. "Oops."

They made their way inside the large, wooden resort. It was four stories high and more than a football field's size. The lobby was so brightly lit, the light itself seemed to press down on them. It smelled like potpourri the gold and scarlet everywhere made it feel like a royal home. Danny stood in the door way momentarily in sheer surprise but then made his way forward to the front desk. He laid their reservation paper on the counter and said, "One room for Fenton."

The man behind the desk eyed the three of them, particularly Sam. "One?"

"We could only afford one, sir," Danny said, a little annoyed. "Three beds."

This was news to Sam. She looked at Danny questioningly. "We're sharing a room?"

"Girl, do you know how much just one room costs?" Tucker said. "It's on the fourth floor, too. With a _balcony_. Where is the bad?"

The man handed Danny the electronic key and a man who looked like he was going through puberty at age twenty came with a cart to put their luggage in. They followed him to an elevator, went up to the fourth floor, and found their room. Opening the door, Tucker stopped short and stared, blocking Danny and Sam's view.

"What is it?" Danny asked annoyed.

"This room is the best room I've ever seen. It's, like, better than Sam's house!"

"Let me see!" Sam suddenly cried, shoving Tucker and Danny aside. She raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure this cost less than two rooms, Danny?" The room was more like a suite. It was bi-level, with the beds and balcony raised from the floor about a foot. There was a walk-in closet, a more than decent sized bathroom with a shower and round bathtub, a small kitchen area with a bar-like counter, and all the beds were queen sized with red canopies surrounding them. The balcony faced the mountains, where the sun was lowering behind one of the peaks. Sam stared at the intoxicating view outside. "Guys?"

"Yeah?" they replied.

"This place is awesome."

"Yeah."

Tucker threw his bag on the bed closest to the balcony. "Dibs!" he cried. Danny took the middle bed and Sam got the one next to the closet.

Danny opened his bag and reached in to find his coat. He threw it around his arms and said, "Let's go explore the rest of this palace."

* * *

_Author's Note: I'm in a writing mood, okay? I'm writing like crazy, but tell me if it's good or not. I'll start work on chapter three right away. This feels way too long…the actual story its 2,606 words. Youch. Too much? Oh, well. I don't want this story to have too many chapters… just around ten or so. Anyways, enough of my talking. Review, please!_

XKismetX


	3. Snow and Hot Water

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note:_ (blinks in shock)_ Wow. I seriously did not expect reviews like that. Thanks a ton! I don't think this chapter lives up to the first ones, which kind of frustrated me, but I think it's still okay. Thanks again!_

**Snow and Hot Water**

Tucker ran out of the elevator with an annoyed Danny and a quiet Sam behind him. Those two were so depressing sometimes. Okay, Sam was _always_ depressing, but them put together it was averaged out to sometimes. He stopped at the end of the hallway to see a large area with couches and three fireplaces, but he went straight for the game room.

"Pool, here I come," he said to himself, running across the room to claim a pool table for the others when they arrived. Finally they got there and Sam looked at Tucker with an impatient expression, which he noticed. "What? It's pool!"

"We're at a ski resort that is more like a freaking castle," she said, "and the first thing you see is pool. There's a sauna, a spa, a hot tub, a lounge, a mini-theater, a buffet, snowboard lesson sign-ups-"

"Buffet?" Tucker.

"Snowboarding?" Danny.

"Yeah," said Sam. "Tucker, stuff your face; Danny, sign up for stuff with me."

He agreed, seeing opportunity,and went to a small table with numerous clipboards on it. Tucker followed his nose to the buffet where they were serving dinner. While Sam read the different classes she could take, Danny stood next to her with his hands in his pockets looking around the lounge. The place felt so comfortable, like magic. He should've been feeling excited, but instead he felt relaxed and, for once, normal. He was here, at this awesome place with no ghosts to be seen, with Sam. And Tucker. Sam _and_ Tucker.

What was UP with him, anyway?

"Danny? Daaanny," said Sam behind him, prodding him with her finger. He finally turned around and saw a piece of paper in front of his face. "You've always wanted to try snowboarding, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, definitely," he said, writing his name down. "You going to take it?"

"Not my thing, really. I'm going to join a hiking group," she said, spotting another clipboard. "Check out the scenery. I love the snow, we hardly ever get it."

"You'll try skiing or something outside of class though, right?" he asked, leaning forward inquisitively. "We're all here together, we should so something."

"I guess I will," she said. "Just for fun. And the beginner slopes for me, okay?" Danny smirked. She looked almost scared.

A voice from somewhere behind them called, "No way! Sam?"

Sam turned at to the voice. "Ash?" she cried in surprise.

Danny turned around as a boy decked in black and green came over. He looked at Sam and smiled. "Wow, what a coincidence," he breathed.

"Yeah, coincidence," she repeated. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I didn't follow you if that's what you think," he said, laughing. "I'm here for a few days, you know, just to get away." He looked to Sam's right and seemed to notice Danny for the first time. "You're one of her friend's aren't you?"

He nodded, not saying anything until Sam elbowed him. "Ow…Hi! I'm Danny."

Ash didn't seem to take in this bit of knowledge. "So I guess I was right when I said I'd see you soon?"

"Yeah, that was weird wasn't it?" Sam said brightly. Danny fish-eyed her at that sound. It was alien to him.

"I'll see you later, too, then," he said. "Later. Oh, bye Danny." He pulled his hood over his hair and walked away quickly.

Danny shuddered, struck by a sudden cold. Sam felt it because he was standing too close to her and looked up. "You okay?"

He nodded and looked down at her, taking a step back when he noticed he'd gotten closer somehow. "Yeah… what about you though?"

"What about me?"

"All day you've been too quiet," he said. "And you were upset earlier and we never finished talking about that."

Sam bit her lip, trying not to show her thoughts on her face. _Brilliant, Sam. Well, I can't talk about it now, the courage left me. _Could Danny be looking at her any harder? "It's not a big deal, really," she said. "You're blowing it out of proportion."

"Point?"

"Don't say that," she said. "I was just thinking about what your parents said about girls. I'm kind of applying guys to that, too, for me. I was just a little worried about what was going to happen. I'm fine now." Well, it was _mostly_ true, she told herself.

Danny nodded in the direction that Ash had left. "Looks like you already have guy problems," he said with a laugh.

"It's not a _problem_, Danny," she said darkly, walking toward the buffet. "He likes me, but I never said I liked him back. And I don't." She took a plate from the end of the buffet, Danny following her. "You don't seem to like him at all, though."

"Huh?" he said, dropping a ladle full of some form of soup.

Sam smiled softly. "I saw the look you gave him. If you're worried, don't be. He's not dangerous. He's pretty okay, actually…."

They got their food and found the table Tucker was sitting at. Sam put a forkful of lettuce in her mouth before anyone had to ask her anything. Instead, Tucker looked to Danny and asked, "Wanna hit the hot tub after this?" Danny shrugged and nodded. "Sam?" She nodded as she put another bite in her mouth, looking at the table. Danny sighed and rubbed his forehead.

* * *

Upstairs, Danny and Tucker were waiting at the bathroom door as Sam changed into her bathing suit. "Hurry up, Sam," whined Danny. 

"The beds have canopies, geniuses," came the reply.

"So why aren't you changing in your bed then?" asked Tucker.

"Because I'm a girl and I don't trust you."

"What's not to trust?" Danny asked. Tucker grinned at him and he punched him.

"You two and testosterone, another thing I'm sure Tucker doesn't know about."

Danny dragged Tucker away before he could start arguing with her through the door. He hopped in his bed and pulled the canopy closed, changing into his blue and black swimming trunks. When he came out, Sam was leaning against the wall with her swimming cape draped around her. "Oh, come on Sam, we'll be inside."

"I know," she said. "This is to go downstairs in."

Tucker came out in his trunks and a white T-shirt on. "Let's go."

The sauna/spa/hot tub area was filled with people, but luckily there were four hot tubs. The three of them found an empty one and started to head for it when Danny spotted something to the side. Someone with a ID from the resort pinned to his chest was surrounded by a circle of little kids and teenagers. It looked almost like a campfire, and for some reason, Danny was drawn to it. "Hey guys, come here a second." They followed him to the circle until they were within hearing distance.

"Before this resort was here, a boy had gotten lost on the mountain, separated from his group," said the employee. He looked like a well-dressed janitor. "He had wandered off after he saw a girl his age that he cared deeply for kiss another boy. He was heartbroken, and so he cried out in the snow in his sorrow. The sound was so loud, deep, and filled with emotion that is caused a furociousavalanche that covered the whole area. Hardly anyone survived, including the girl he loved."

Sam stepped closer, becoming very interested in the story being told. She took a seat, with the others following suit.

"The boy was ridden with guilt knowing that he caused his love to die," continued the employee. "He wandered on, letting his heartbreak consume him. He was cold and hungry and didn't care.From above him, a very powerful ghost that inhabited the mountains saw him and came down to him. The ghost took pity on the boy when he heard the story, and felt his heartbreak as if it were his own. When the boy passedaway from hypothermia."

_Should kids really be listening to this, _thought Tucker, but he didn't interrupt the story..

"When the boy died, the ghost felt grief. He hadn't had anyone to speak to in very long and had been lonely even before hearing the boy's story. He found the girl's body soon after and in sadness he caused an even greater avalanche than the first. Before the avalanche reached the boy, he placed the body of the girl next to him, and they were buried together in many feet of snow.

"Every year now, on the anniversary of that day, the ghost known as the Avalanche Specter searches for a girl that reminds him of the girl who had died, and reenacts that sad day. He takes the girl as his love and a boy goes after her. He then takes the life of them both and buries them both in snow by causing another avalanche, and the two are buried next to each other as both a symbol of the death of the boy and girl, but of the new children's affection as well. The anniversary is coming in a few days, and every year two people go missing from the resort or a town nearby. He has been gone, however, for the past two years, somehow trapped by the last boy he lured into the mountains. Who's to know if he comes back to claim another couple?And _that_ is the legend of the Avalanche Specter."

The crowd surrounding the employee cleared out quickly, going back to their leisure activities. The trio sat there for a moment before Tucker said, "Well that was creepy."

"Do you think the legend is true?" asked Sam.

Tucker laughed. "With everything we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if the Avalanche Specter was real and he had a pet dragon. Sadly, we have seen real dragons."

Well, this was good news for Danny. "I don't want to talk about ghosts again, especially if that ends up true. Right now, I want to be in a hot tub."

The three of them moved to the hot tub they had spotted before, only to see it occupied by one person.

"Hi, Ash," Sam said. He turned around andlooked at them in surprise. "You mind?"

He broke into a small smile before saying, "No, come in." He was always smiling when he saw Sam. It freaked Danny out a bit. And he really didn't want to be in the hot tub with Ash. Sam took off her cape, revealing her bikini that she'd picked out in hopes that it wouldn't reveal too much. Danny noticed Ash examine her, and felt blood boil.

"So, what are you three doing tomorrow?" Ash asked. "Can I join? I'm kinda alone here."

"Actually," said Sam, "we don't really know yet." She looked to the other boys. "What do you say?"

"I think I've got my first lesson tomorrow by what the schedule said," said Danny quickly. "_Really_ sorry I can't make it, though," he added in convincing sarcasm.

Ash shrugged. "Nah, it's cool. So do I. My morning is free, though. Sam, would you fancy a walk?"

Sam hesitated, looking Ash up and down before responding, "Yes." Maybe Ash was better than okay.

Tucker looked between Ash and Sam, who were still looking at each other. This couldn't be good. "Danny and I can go too, right?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Ash said. "If you two want to protect her from my wrath," he joked, reaching an arm out to Sam. She shrugged it off and stopped smiling.

_Took the words right out of my mouth_, thought Danny. He grasped Tucker's hand and said,"Tucker can I talk to you for a second?" 

The two of them got out of the water, Sam looking after them with wide eyes. Did they know they were leaving her with Ash?

A few feet away, behind a plant that covered them from sight, Tucker smirked wisely at Danny. "What's up?"

Danny glanced in Sam and Ash's direction and said, "I really don't trust that guy. I'm getting a major bad vibe from him."

Tucked laughed and patted Danny's shoulder. "You're just jealous, man," he chuckled. "Ash is closing in on Sam and you're mad because you wish it was you."

Danny choked for a moment and stared at Tucker. "No, that's not it! I'm just worried about her because she's my friend and this guy is creeping me out. Come on, don't you feel it?"

"He's just flirting with her," he said exasperatedly. "I mean it's not like you can tell he's bad like you can tell if there's a ghost near-"

Danny exhaled and an icy blue vapor leaked from his mouth, as if on cue. He groaned and walked toward the nearest bathroom. "Look, make an excuse for me, okay?" He disappeared soon after, leaving Tucker to explain to Ash where he'd gone.


	4. A Wonderful Vacation

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: Thank you for all of your reviews. I'm really excited about writing this now. Like I wasn't before? You guys are great._

**A Wonderful Vacation**

Sam and Tucker were sitting on their beds, watching a science fiction movie from Tucker's stash that Sam had picked based on its horror status. Danny had been missing for a half an hour. They'd left Ash in the hot tub after Sam realized what was going on.

Humph… Ash. Sam closed her eyes and thought about him. He was a nice guy, but he was really fast. He kept trying to act like they'd been going out already. Maybe if he'd toned it down a little bit she'd decide he wouldn't be a bad date. Oh, what was she thinking? _There's nothing wrong with liking him. I don't even really like him yet, do I?_

"When is Danny going to be done?" asked Tucker. "I'm almost worried at this point."

Sam looked up and seemed to notice for the first time that it'd been a while. "I don't know. Maybe we should go look for him."

"No need," said a familiar voice outside of the balcony. Danny became visible and opened the glass door, shifting into human form. He looked extremely annoyed as he held up the Fenton Thermos. "The Box Ghost got out of this. I found it on the balcony before I went after him. Tucker, how did he get out?"

Tucker paused the movie and took the thermos from him. "I didn't let him out. I left it in my bag," he said. "Do you think it's broken?"

Broken. Right. Sam crossed her arms and said, "No way. Danny says he found it outside, and you never went on the balcony before we left. Somebody let him out."

Danny rubbed his head. "He kept spouting out even more random junk than usual, I couldn't even follow most of it," he said. "I don't need this crap."

"I know, Danny," said Sam sympathetically. He sat down on his bed between them. "Tomorrow will be better. We'll worry about the Box Ghost if he ever causes harm."

Laughter came out of him despite his mood. "Yeah… right. Then I'm totally carefree!" He leaned back on his elbows and smiled."What're we watching?"

* * *

Danny stepped out onto the snow, feeling it crunch beneath his feet. Unlike the humid mornings in Amity Park, morning here was bright, cool, and refreshing. He actually had a decent night of sleep and felt good for his upcoming snowboarding lesson. "Doesn't it look great today?" 

"Super," moaned Sam, rubbing her eyes. Even with the day ahead she wasn't a morning person.

"You seem in a much better mood, though," said Tucker, brining up the rear.

Yes, he was. He was glad he was appearing so, too, because that's what he was forcing himself to be. Yesterday hadn't ended quite well, with the news of a ghost that kidnapped people and the newcomer Ash. He still had a bad feeling about him but he wasn't going to back out of the walk the four of them were supposed to go on that morning. "Yeah. Why, is there a problem?" he asked.

Tucker shook his head. "Nope."

Sam felt someone tap her shoulder and she spun around. Before she could see a face, the person wrapped her in a loose hug. "Good morning, Sam," said Ash, letting go of her and backing away. "Wow, you look dead," he said, seeing her drowsy face. "But it works on you."

"Did you just compliment me because I look like crap?" Sam asked, smiling to herself.

"No, of course not," he said. "You're too beautiful to look like crap."

Sam blushed and tried to act like the words hadn't affected her. "You really don't have to talk like that," she said, turning around to the other two but not really looking at them. She started walking and they all followed, Danny and Tucker hanging back as Ash walked next to Sam, hands in his pockets.

"She's right, you know," whispered Tucker to Danny. "He'spretty mushy for a Goth isn't he?"

"Yeah, well, Sam's not exactly cold-blooded is she? It's a stereotype thing, Tuck."

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "Yesterday you were all madly jealous, and now you're cool with it?"

"Look, I wasn't _madly jealous_," Danny said, glaring. "I still don't like him, but Sam seems to, so I'll go with it."

He looked at their surrounding silently, seeing the way the snow seemed to gleam with the sun shining directly on this side of the mountain. It wasn't a very tall one, and a quarter mile away, with a small range stretching out behind it. Later this afternoon he'd be taking his first snowboarding class. Flying didn't beat anything, but he'd wanted to since before his powers.

A few feet in front of them, Sam and Ash were having a real conversation for once. He asked her what she liked to do, and she listed off her favorite music and that she was an animal right's activist. While they were talking about their interests, though, Sam realized that there was a lot she wasn't able to say about her free time. Most of it was spent ghost hunting with Danny and Tucker, actually.

"So what about you?" she asked. "What do you like?"

"Well, I like the snow," he said. "I mean, I live in this area actually. So I do a lot with the snow."

"So, snowboarding, skiing, stuff like that?"

"Yeah, sure," he said. "This isn't as much a vacation for me as it is a get-away from my usual place." He smiled shyly at her, one type smile he hadn't really used in front of her. "I'm glad Iwas ableto come."

Sam smiled back. Ash really wasn't that bad. In fact, the constant telling of how he liked her wasn't quite as annoying anymore. She looked back at the two boys behind them, who seemed to be paying very little attention to them. Turning back to Ash, she said, "Me, too."

"So you're finally warming up to me, eh?" he asked, wavering his eyebrows. Sam laughed and hit his shoulder. "No, seriously, thanks. You're so beautiful."

"Thanks, but don't say it so much," she said, blushing yet again. "It's embarrassing."

Tucker elbowed Danny, who stopped with him.and said to the three of them, "Does anyone know exactly where we're going?" They all stopped and looked around. They'd wandered down a trail in a wooded area, but the trail had suddenly disappeared.

Ash turned around and walked in the direction they'd come from. "We haven't been off long, we'll be back soon," he said, leaving the rest of them behind.

"You sure you know where you're going?" asked Danny suspiciously, following.

"I know my way around," was all he said.

* * *

"So how was snowboarding tonight?" Asked Tucker that evening as the three friends, now including Ash, ate dinner. 

Danny shrugged and stared down at his plate. "It was fun, mostly. Except when I fell face first into the snow and need three people to pull me back up. On the second lesson, too." He didn't tell them how he'd fallen as they all chuckled a little. He'd been thinking about how none of his friends were with him, but with Ash. He kept telling himself he was just being protective, but Tucker's suggestion of jealousy kept coming into his mind. If that was the case, then Ash wasn't actually a bad guy. All the same, though… and it was this point in his train of thought that he'd fallen on his face.

"Well, the hiking group was fun today, too," said Sam. "I somehow dragged Tucker along this time. You should find time to go tomorrow, it's so beautiful. I almost _wanted_ to get lost in there."

Tucker looked at Sam closely. "You'd stay here forever if you could, huh?"

"Definitely!" she replied, putting down her fork loudly.

"I wouldn't wish that," Ash said quietly, looking at Sam intently. She turned toward him, slightly surprised at his tone."I'm sure that by now you've all heard of the Avalanche Specter?" They nodded. "It's not just some legend, you know. There really were disappearances a while back, every year, too. Ayoung girl goes missing, and soon after, aguy. Then there's always a small avalanche not too far away." He reached across the short distance between he and Sam and touched her hand gently. "You're much too pretty to be kidnapped, and I'm sure that if you stayed you'd be in danger."

Sam blushed furiously as she had been a lot these past three days. "So, uh, you believe in ghosts then?" Ash nodded, soon out of his dark mood.

Tucker looked to Danny, expecting a glare, and instead saw him with a thoughtful expression on his face. Just then, the all-too familiar ghost sense kicked in. He stood up hurriedly and said, "Uh… excuse me. Restroom." He ran off, leaving the three of them there.

"Is he usually that spastic?" asked Ash, looking after his running form.

"You have no idea," said Sam. "But it's not really his fault…"

* * *

It would've been much more enjoyable seeing the mountains from the sky under a waxing moon if he wasn't searching for the ghost that made his senses go off. He couldn't stop to take in the scenery now, though. He had to get back as quick as possible before Ash wondered if Danny's food wasn't at its best date. But maybe later he'd take Sam and Tucker out to see what he was seeing. 

His ghost sense went off again, but it was hard to tell since it was so cold out at night. He looked around and spotted the Box Ghost flying over the trees on the mountain. "Good thing I've got the thermos this time," he said. "This should be easy." He flew over to where the Box Ghost was, sneaking up from behind. "Hey!" he shouted angrily, catching his attention. He twisted the thermos open and pointed it at the Box Ghost. "Get sucked in here so I can start to enjoy my vacation already!"

"I cannot be contained in your cylindrical container for long, ghost boy!" he cried happily. "My servant shall rescue me as he did before and our plans shall continue!"

"Servant?" Danny was dumbfounded for a moment. Were there actually other ghosts dumb enough to follow the Box Ghost's orders? 'As he did before'? So it wasn't Tucker's carelessness that… He quickly resolved his initial surprise and said, "Well, whatever plans you've got, no servant's gonna get you out this time." He pulled the annoying ghost into the thermos and capped it shut.

"Finally, that problem's over," he said, flying back toward the cozy resort. If there was a servant, that ghost would have to be easier to catch than the Box Ghost, and if he kept the thermos close by this time around, there'd be no way he'd escape again.

As he neared the window on one end of the fourth floor's hallway, he stopped short and stared, jaw agape and eyes wide. Going invisible, he phased through the wall and stood in the hallway to watch the scene.

Sam's back to the wall, Ash close in front of her, both of them kissing the other with eyes closed.It didn't matter how innocentthe actionwas, though. Danny didn't move from his spot, even after Sam said good night to Ash as he left the hallwayand walked into their room.

* * *

_Author's Note: I had to sit down, disconnect my Internet, and scream at myself 'focus focus focus' to get this done. I hope it doesn't seem like it was done in too much haste, though. Yes, Sam has fallen for Ash. Whatcha gonna do, flame me? If you're reading this, review, please, so I can know how to make your experience here more enjoyable._

_X Kismet X_


	5. Don't Tell Anyone!

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: You guys are all so great! The writers are nothing without the readers, you guys really boost my urge to write.The sad thing is that my entire writing schedule has been thrown off; what with Fish camp, family reunions, and now going to my grandmother's this week... you may have to wait for a logner time.This starts out… well, the whole thing, really, is D/S/A galore. If anyone's wondering when the action is going to pick up, look out for chapter six._

_As for the theories about the Avalanche Specter... well, I'd just like to say I'm enjoying them. And I shan't say any more about it.

* * *

_

**Don't Tell Anyone**

Did his subconscious LIKE taunting him? Did it? It had to, for there was no other excuse as to why the same scene played over and over in his mind, growing worse with every mental viewing. Every time the kiss lasted longer, they looked into each other's eyes deeper, and Sam's voice sounded more loving.

Danny lay on his bed, canopies hiding him from the rest of the room. Tucker was snoring lightly from his left, and Sam sat reading a book on his right. How badly he wanted to get up and tell her… _what_ exactly?

There was no more use in denying himself any longer. His feelings for his best friend were screaming inside of him like an angry beast. Sam had never kissed anyone before except him, even if not necessarily real…

When he had phased through the wall into the room after calming himself down, he used every bit of his energy to not look Sam in the eyes. If it had been up to him he'd bury himself in his covers and ignore them, but he had to tell them what he'd heard first.

"So someone let him out of the thermos," Tucker concluded as Danny finished his recap. "See, I knew it wasn't my fault!"

"No, but you fail to see the point here," Sam said. Danny watched his nails with great interest. "The Box Ghost's partner – servant, whatever, got into the room without any of us noticing. You said something about a plan, too."

"Yeah, and he's not exactly known for planning ahead, is he?" Danny handed the thermos to Tucker, but then as if thinking better of it, pulled back. "I think this'll be safer with me, actually." He walked over to his bed and tucked it in his suitcase.

Now, about an hour after that discussion, Danny was trying to calm the beast inside of him. But as his anger dissipated, it was replaced by a feeling of sadness. His face relaxed from its glare and he rubbed his temples, trying to force the thoughts back. The images in the scene were being distorted to put Danny in Ash's place, and even though the thoughts were good ones, he started to freak out. Thinking this way about her was strange, and wrong now that Sam was taken. He shouldn't be…

Yeah, well, Ash shouldn't have kissed Sam.

He pressed his pillow against his ears as if that would eventually shut out the voice in his head. With no luck, Danny closed his eyes and tried to force himself to sleep.

The amount of light that had been visible from beyond the canopy flickered away as Sam closed her book. She sighed and stood from her bed, walking over to the balcony, her dark purple silk pajamas clinging to her. Opening the glass door, a chill breeze pressed against her skin, and she considered turning in to her warm bed. Quickly she closed it behind her and stepped onto the platform in her socks. Goosebumps were going up her arms, but she couldn't tell if they were from the cold or from the memory.

Ash's lips against hers for those brief seconds… quite literally, her first kiss, and a boy she hardly knew took it. All the same, she closed her eyes and smiled. It was a soft, romantic kiss that made her stomach jump in its lacking, yet full capacity of emotion. It wasn't like the fake-out make-outs, done in haste and hard yet passionate… she blinked those thoughts away. She didn't like thinking about it… not anymore, at least.

She gave one last look at the breath-taking view and turned back inside, the warmth hugging her as she closed her canopies and lay her head on her pillow.

Danny pulled a gray hoodie over his head as he reached out for the door handle. His snowboarding lesson was in half an hour, and it took ten minutes to get to the slopes they were using today. As he opened the door and took a step out, another body blocked his path. He jumped back in surprise before crying, "Tucker, don't do that! You scared… me." He stopped talking when he noticed the look on Tucker's face. His arms were crossed and he was tapping his foot impatiently, but with a concerned and very serene face. The expression was easy enough to read.

"What is it?" he asked exasperated.

Tucker shook his head and pushed Danny back inside, closing the door behind them. "Do I really, _really_ need to ask?" he asked, smiling a little.

"It would make it a lot easier to follow, yes," Danny retorted. He had a sinking feeling of what he was going to say, though. Tucker knew him better than anyone except –

"Sam," said Tucker.

Danny shrugged, trying to pull off indifference. "What about her?"

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Don't think I didn't notice your serious funk last night. And I was just in the dining room… Sam and Ash getting too close for comfort?"

"Shut it," was all he said before trying to push past him. Tucker didn't move. "Tuck, I have to get to my class!"

"You have time." Tucker pushed Danny by his shoulders backwards all the way to his bed. He didn't protest. "I saw Ash kiss her, Danny." He paused and waited for a reaction. Danny's face was determinedly blank, which only proved his theory. "And judging by your stony silence, this isn't news to you."

_Damn_, thought Danny. What was the point? He'd already admitted it to himself. Tucker was his best friend. And it wasn't like it was some big secret to him, apparently. "Fine," he mumbled. "I'm jealous. You happy?"

"So you admit that you like her?"

"Yes," Danny said, falling backwards onto the bed. "I like her. I really, really do… so bad."

Tucker smiled and shook his head. "Not the best time to finally come to that conclusion, man."

"It's just… that I hardly even knew I felt like this," Danny said, the words spilling out on their own accord. "The whole world seemed to know except me. And Sam, I guess."

"Oh, Sam knows," said Tucker, as though it was obvious. "I can tell. Trust me, she'd much rather be with you than with Ash."

Danny laughed bitterly. "Of course," he spat. "That's why she's kissing him and not me."

Tucker's eyebrows shot up. Wow. He'd known since freshman year that Danny had a thing for her, but for him to _suddenly_ figure it out and be this, well, pissed off was slightly surprising. "Well…" he said carefully, "You've never really let her know that you feel that way. In fact, you make a point in letting her know that you absolutely don't."

"_I know_!" Danny yelled angrily. Three seconds afterward, even he was surprised at his reaction. "I'm sorry," he sighed. "I'm just really stressed out lately. In case you haven't noticed this isn't quite the vacation for me. And please don't tell her this!"

_Well, obviously_, thought Tuck. Sam, the stupid Box ghost, the looming threat of the possibility of an Avalanche Specter -- of which still hadn't been proven – were plaguing his mind. Tucker was supposed to Google anything he could find about missing persons in the area to let Danny know if he should use his resources to search for a legend. They knew better than most not to confuse legend with reality when it came to ghosts.

Danny checked his watch. He had fifteen minutes left to eat something. "Look, let's go downstairs and talk to Sam about what we're doing." Tucker shrugged and followed him down the elevator to the lounge, where Sam and Ash sat drinking coffee.

"Hey, Sam," said Tucker before Danny got a chance to exhale, "can we talk to you real quick?"

She glanced sideways at Ash before standing up and nodding. She followed them to a table, where Danny grabbed a box of cereal and began munching on it with full concentration. Sam gave him a wary look before turning to Tucker. "So, what's the plan?"

"I Google anything I can about the Avalanche guy," explained Tucker, "you ask employees more about it, and after his lesson, we fill in Danny."

Sam smiled at Danny. "Well don't you have the easy job?" she joked. Danny just mumbled into his bowl. Curious, she bent closer to him and asked, "Hey, everything okay?"

"Yeah-I'm-fine," he said quickly and loudly between bites. He put the spoon down and pushed his chair back. "I just have to, you know, snowboard. The easy job. Later." He hurried off without once looking at Sam.

She diverted her attention back to Tucker. "I don't suspect you know why that just happened," she asked sarcastically.

"Nope," he said, grinning. "Not a clue." This received a piercing scowl from Sam. She certainlyknew how to chillhim to the bone for an answer, but she wasn't getting one. Instead of answering her, he changed the subject to a related matter. "So, you and Ash are kind of official now, eh?"

Sam blushed pink and swished her coffee cup around. "Yeah, I guess," she said. "I really like him. I'm just able to relate to him, and we have similar interests,which is really hard for me to find. He's even agreed to trying an Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian diet, to see what it's like."

Tucker pursed his lips, trying to figure out how to handle this situation. "What about—"

"Danny?"

His head shot up and looked at her confused. That was freaky."Uh… sure, let's just go with Danny then."

What was the point in keeping it secret anymore? Besides, if he ever decided to confide this in Danny, she could always threaten Tucker with some of the dirt she had on him. "Well, I _used_ to like him." She laughed. "Hell, I liked him up until a few days ago, actually. I have… had, for a _really_ long time." Frowning, she started to twist her cup again. "But he's never made a move. I'm not sure what he thinks, or if it's the same as me, but I've been waiting to know what he feels and I'm just tired of it. I'm not going to just sit and let Ash go on a chance that Danny likes me, too."

_Oh, it was so ironic_, thought Tucker. She hadn't even realized that she'd let slip out that she still cared about him. He was threatened to say outright, "Are you slow? He's practically in love right now and stewing in a pot of envy!"

He decided to go with, "Well, whatever makes you happy, Sam."

"Somehow," she said suspiciously, "that didn't sound too enthusiastic."

"That's because it wasn't," he said. Maybe it was finally time to do a little intervention so that either Sam or Danny wouldn't end up hurting someone. For Danny? Ash. For Sam? He didn't even want to imagine the face of the person after she was through with them. "What are you going to do if Danny ends up liking you back?"

A short pause stretched between them before Sam was able to answer. "Well, uh," she stammered, "that isn't going to happen." She began to stand from her seat, but as she rose she hesitated and looked back to Tucker. "Why? Do you know something?"

"Danny is a guy," he explained slowly. "Do you honestly think he'd talk about his feelings like you girls do?"

Ignoring the sexist comment, Sam persisted. "Yes, actually. You've never been a great liar, you know."

"Good thing I'm not lying then," he replied. Well, he never said, No, Danny never told me anything about being crazy about you. He stood up and leaned across the table, much as Sam was doing, and said softly, "Danny's looking out for you, though. He wants to make sure you're okay, I know that much." Okay, Danny never actually told him that, but it was obviously true. "And no matter what you say, I know you still like him, even if you like Ash, too."

Sam clenched her teeth in frustration before saying, "I... we don't have time for this, Tuck! Let's just get to work, okay?" Tucker shrugged and left her standing at the table, glaring at the plates they'd left and forcing herself to focus on the day ahead. Finally, she sighed and left to find someone to talk to about the legend.

She never did realize the vibrant green eyes were watching her greedilyfrom above, following her every move as they had been for days now. He smiled to himself as the plan in his mind became clearer and more satisfying to play out in his imagination. He had to wait... wait for the perfect moment to take the bait and lure the prey.

* * *

_So... get to reviewing. Here's a lovely preview of things to come: Tucker and Sam go about, finding out whatever more they can that might prove the Avalanche Specter's existence and when exactly he'll strike. The trio meet after the search and decide on what Danny should do to prevent the kidnappings. What happens, though, if Danny learns he's too late?_

_XKismetX_


	6. First Strike

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: This chapter… is here! You know how hard it is to write with your grandmother trying to drag you to Kohl's? Well, you already know what this chapter is basically about so I won't bother you much with summaries. Here you go, faithful readers!_

**First Strike**

The visitor computers had dial-up connection, the office area was crowded with businessmen, and Tucker had absolutely no intention of going in there with the technologically inept adults. How lucky was it that he decided to bring his own laptop? Very lucky indeed. For another thing, the resort had forbidden food near their desks. And even though he'd already eaten breakfast, that was thirty minutes ago. He always munched on something while being his techno-geek self, no shame in that. He opened two windows and went on two different websites: Ghost Portal Online, their main source for information on ghost legends, and Google.

GPO was a website that they'd found a year previously while learning about a strange monster-like ghost they'd come across that did a lot of damage to the Danny and Tucker. Okay, so Sam found it, but that was only because she was the only one not in bodily pain.

He ran a Google search on "Avalanche Specter". 22,100 matches, most of the first ones he saw about people with the last name Specter. Slightly annoyed, he retyped the search to include the words "missing people". 6,500 matches. The third one, however, was all he needed to find. He clicked on the link and a local newspaper's website loaded.

**Missing Children, Avalanche Spooks Local Citizens**

_The four day search for 14 year old Christine Chavez continues, now combined with the search for Jaime King, fellow student on a class trip to the mountains where both are expected to be lost._

_A small avalanche occurring two miles from the resort where both children were staying has brought the morale in most of the searchers down. All parties are focusing on the mountain the natural disaster happened on, fearing the same fate would befall those who have gone missing from the area in the past. _

"_It's the Avalanche Specter," said Terrance Pike, an employee at the resort the children were boarding in. "Everyone around here was afraid this would happen before the avalanche, and now that it has, those two kids don't have any hope."_

_The Avalanche Specter, a ghost in a local urban legend, is known to lure a young woman into the mountains with a boy soon following to look for her. Once the two are together, the ghost starts an avalanche that buries them. Though there most likely isn't a ghost involved in these disappearances and similar ones in the past, authority figures have ordered all parties to scan the disaster site for the children._

"_I don't know see how people are still buying the ghost crap," says Lieutenant Tiffany Newhart. "Monsters, ghouls, phantoms, they're all just the usual excuses people make when something frightening is unexplained. We believe that a normal, but nothing short of sick human is responsible for previous missing children that are presumed dead. We're not giving up the search for Chavez and King because of some idiotic story."_

_Most people aren't convinced that any common kidnapper is responsible. Similar disappearances have happened in the past as local citizens well remember. The most recent missing case of Chastity Shan and Michael Parker ended two months afterward when Parker was found dead, Shan still missing. "I just hope these kids don't end up as ghosts, too," said Pike._

Tucker shook his head. This didn't give them anything valuable to use, except that that legends were truth based. He clicked on the minimized Ghost Portal Online window and went to the search engine in the upper let corner, typing in Avalanche Specter.

One match found.

"You know, I probably should've just done this one first," he murmured to himself, clicking the link.

At the top of the page was an artist's depiction of the legend. A wild eyed ghost flew above a snow-covered mountain, looking down manically at a boy and a girl as a cascade of snow began to flow towards them. The picture was enough to creep him out. The whole boy-girl love theme of the legend had been unsettling before but now… He read the story beneath the picture, and found it to be slightly more helpful.

_Though there have been no valid sighting of the Avalanche Specter in the northwest regions of the United States, most of the people in the particular area believe that the Avalanche Specter exists and haunts the mountain regions of the area. The Specter annually kidnaps teenage girls, most reports showing between the ages of 13 and 17. A boy of the same age, usually a close friend of the girl, soon goes missing as well, apparently while searching for the girl. According to legend, the Specter chooses the girl he kidnaps because the boy has romantic feelings for her that are unrequited. These claims are impossible to prove._

_The origin of the ghost is unknown, as is the age of him. All the legend tells is of the Specter meeting a heart broken boy near death, and taking on the sorrow of him. This is unusual for the nature of ghosts, as they are known to be held to the earth by an obsession of their own. Whatever kept the Specter to the real world originally is not clarified. This ghost is a danger to all teenagers who visit the area. Seeing as how a resort in the area attracts a lot of tourism, the story is usually not told to outsiders despite the threat to them. _

_The kidnappings occur in late July and early August. Over the course of twenty years, there have only been three years skipped. For the past two years, residents have been lucky. It is fabled that the Specter passed on, satisfied in his work. Others suspect that he hasn't been able to find another couple that fits the usual description. The fear that the Specter will claim more victims has not dissipated, as recent GPO polls from citizens in the area confirm._

Well, that explained a bit more than the newspaper article had. Below the information supplied by GPO was a list of links. One went to a list of the Specter's victims, their ages, and links to any newspaper articles about their disappearances. Another went to the resort's homepage. Below these links were the usual editorials and forums where frequent visitors to the website discussed ghosts and such. Maybe Tucker could find out if anyone on the message boards could help them. He checked his watch and saw that he had forty minutes until they were supposed to meet Danny on the slopes.

He logged in as ProudTechLover, his username for the boards. Danny's and Sam's usernames were PhantomHunter and MetalMistress, respectively. Tucker was more well-known than those two, though. The forums were full of crazy whack-jobs who believed in ghosts like people believed in Area 51, but some were worthy to be called ghost specialists.

_Don't think about Danny and Sam, Tucker._ Those two were crazy, and he was stuck in the middle, as usual. He ignored any and all thoughts about the two and posted about the Avalanche Specter, waiting for any of the intelligent freaks to post.

* * *

Sam was having no luck in finding anybody that was willing to tell her anything about the Avalanche Specter. After asking the fourth person who made an excuse to go away or said they didn't know what she was talking about, her patience was wearing thin. 

"Uh, excuse me," said Sam, smiling and trying to seem like a friendly, inquiring young girl. The woman in front of her obviously didn't notice how hard she was trying. "You work here, don't you? I was wondering if I could ask you something."

The woman looked from side to side, as if looking for something to pull her away from the teenager in front of her. Finding no means of escape, she sighed and leaned to one side. "Yes, I work here. I'd be glad to answer any question you have."

Sam smiled sweetly, working the employee while she could. "Well, I heard a janitor or someone the other day talking about this legend about the Avalanche Specter, or some guy like that," she said. Stay casual, act clueless, and the adults won't consider you much of a threat despite the heavy eyeliner. "I thought it was a really cool story, but… Well, I was wondering if it was true. Do people really just disappear around here, and if they do, then how come it wasn't in any of the brochures I got?"

The look of "I'm great at customer service" faltered on the woman's – Diane, from the ID on her shirt – face. "That silly legend?" she asked, an amused smile spreading across her face. "Oh, come on; don't tell me you believe that. It's a story some of the workers here like to tell the little kids. It makes it feel like they're really camping or something." She waited for Sam to say something, or maybe leave, but she just continued to stare at Diana with a look of polite interest. "There have been a few missing cases around here, but it's just because these kids decide that they can explore around these mountains without a tour guide. As for the avalanches, it's August. The snow is somewhere between melting and freezing, so it's common around here. The slopes where people are allowed to go on happen to be the most stable mountains; otherwise there'd be the danger of them happening around here. I'm sorry, but I'm on duty, and I have things to do. Go find a boy to flirt with." With that, the obviously PMS-ing woman left Sam there, hands on her hips and glowering after here.

"Hopefully I'm the only boy you've been flirting with," said a voice from behind her as arms wrapped around her middle.

Sam tensed up from surprise, but smiled and laughed. "You can never be too sure, can you?"

Ash turned her around so that she was facing him, their noses mere inches away from each other. "Don't break my heart like that, Sam."

It almost scared her how much Ash seemed to like her… but in a good way. She was about to say something back when Tucker ran down the hallway towards them. "Sam! I found…" He paused when he noticed Ash. "I found that thing I was looking for. What about you?"

"Sort of," she replied, stepping away from Ash and blushing.

"What were you looking for?" asked Ash.

"Nothing," said the two friends in unison.

Ash nodded slowly. "Oookay, then."

Tucker tugged at Sam's arm. "Sorry, Ash, but we have to meet Danny outside now." He looked meaningfully at her. "Remember, Sam?"

"Huh?" she said, looking away from Ash. "Oh. Yeah. Let's go." She waved and turned toward the doors with Tucker, who was trying with all of his might to not make a comment about how bad Sam had it.

* * *

Danny had released some of his stress during his lesson, the last one he'd signed up for. He'd put all of his energy into that lesson and felt much better, and felt like he could face his friends in the eye, including Sam. 

Yeah. Okay.

He put the snowboard he used for his classes back in the storage closet just as Tucker and Sam walked over to him. Closing the door and looking around, making sure no one was in listening distance, he whispered, "Did you find anything?"

"Well, Tuck here says he found something on GPO, but he wouldn't tell me until we got here."

Danny turned to Tucker with an eager look on his face. "Well?"

"Alright," Tucker said, pulling out his PDA that he'd saved all of the noted the intelligent freaks had sent him. "So, did either of you realize that we have no idea how the Avalanche Specter came to exist?"

Danny and Sam exchanged looks. "Yeah," they said.

Tucker paused. "Oh. I hadn't." He shook his head and continued. "Well, most of the ghosts we've come across has some obsession, or some particular thing that gives them power. The Specter is different in that he existed before he found his obsession from somebody else."

"So in other words," said Sam, "there's a big gaping whole in the story that's probably very important."

"Then we're assuming that he exists?" asked Danny. This warranted looks from the others. "Okay, just checking."

The three of them began to walk toward the resort, headed for a wooden deck with tables they could sit at. "Also, there's the chance that we're stressing out about this for no reason," said Tucker. "There haven't been any disappearances for two years now, after twenty years of haunting this place. Maybe the ghost finally found peace."

"It took him twenty years to find peace?" Danny shook his head disbelieving. "I don't know where he went, but I don't think one particular kidnapping would be much difference."

"It's still possible," said Sam. "I wouldn't let your guard down yet, though, Danny. I'm sorry you're not getting much rest," she added, throwing her arm over his shoulders in a half hug. "Must suck."

"Yeah, Sam," he replied dryly. "It kind of does." He sat down at a table, Tucker and Sam in front of him. "But it doesn't matter. So, Sam, what did you figure out?" It was a deliberate change of subject, because he didn't like thinking about just how low he'd been feeling.

Sam shook her head slowly. "Nothing, really. Just that the employees are in serious denial. They're either scared or don't want to mar the resort's reputation."

"So then we should definitely be on alert, at least," said Danny, resting his cheek in his hand. "I'll sense a ghost if it comes near. Other than that…"

Sam looked through the glass doors at the buffet that they were now setting up for lunch. "You didn't have much breakfast, Danny," she said. "You want some lunch? Then maybe we can all do something together, since we haven't really ever since we got here." She was right. Tucker and Danny had spent their time together, but Sam… well, it didn't need to be said.

Danny smiled at the table. "Sure, that'd be good."

* * *

Late the next morning (about eleven), the three of them were getting their things together to go on one of Sam's hikes up the mountain. As Danny was tying his snow boots, the emergency intercom crackled in the corner. 

"All visitors and employees are required to report in the lobby at this time. Repeat; all visitors and employees report to the lobby at this time. Please end your activities and lessons immediately."

The three looked at each other, confused, before walking out of their room and into the hallway. They made their way to the main lobby, where people were filling the spaces quickly. Danny had never seen all of the visitors together in one space like this, and was surprised to see so many. They were stuck near the back of the group, so he jumped up to try to see what was going on. He found an empty chair and quickly stepped up on it, looking near the middle where a group of employees and police officers were gathered. Most of the officers were trying to calm the group, which was slowly starting to panic, stretching out from the center. Others seemed to be asking the workers questions and amidst the group of red and blue uniforms were two adults. A woman was crying into a man's shoulder.

He jumped down from his seat and cut between the people, Sam and Tucker following close behind. Reaching the center, he spotted a female officer who didn't seem to be doing anything and asked her, "What the heck is going on?"

She looked at Danny with a mix of superiority and, deep within her, fear. "A child went missing early this morning. That is all you need to know."

"Was it a girl?" he asked desperately before she turned away. "A teenage girl?"

The officer looked back at him, seemingly surprised. Her face hardened then and she said, "Do you know something about this that you should be telling me?"

He shook his head. "No, ma'am. Can you just tell me her name?"

"Rachel Kline," she said after a hesitation. "She's thirteen. Do you know her?" He shook his head again. "Then don't bother me. You'll receive more instruction soon, but stay inside. Do not start a panic. If you're so interested, we'll be organizing search parties." She turned her back on him and walked away.

Sam and Tucker looked on as Danny stared ahead. Sam bit her lip and asked quietly, "We're too late aren't we?"

Danny turned stared hard into the two of them before finally whispering, "No. We're not."

* * *

_Author's Note: This is the longest chapter I've written so far, exactly 5 pages. Wow. I enjoy reading all of your reviews. Thank you for the 28 reviews, the 10 people who have this story on their favorite's list, the 6 people who have it on story alert, the two who have me on author alert, and whoever the heck put me on the Danny and Sam Forever C2. If someone can tell me what C2 stands for…? Anyway, chapter seven will be out ASAP!_

_XKismetX_


	7. Search for Rachel

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: School is almost here. The final chapters will, thusly, take longer to write and post. We have DP news now, though! September 16, a new TV movie. Already!_ Danny Phantom and the Ultimate Enemy_, it looks fantastic. Why? Because I saw a clip of Danny cowering in fear so you KNOW it's good. Hopefully we get more out of this D/S wise than Reign Storm. :-) Anyway, I'll be answering reviews this time. That's a first, isn't it?_

_Sam Manson Rulez: Yeah, I did do those searches actually. Funnily enough, the first result was my story. Thanks for reviewing all my chapters so far._

_Kats02980416: I really enjoy all of your reviews. The way you analyze the D/S thing is pretty much right on the nail. Danny doesn't want to tell Sam, though, because he "knows" she doesn't like him since she's with Ash. He's mad at Ash but he's being respectful and not messing with them. Too bad, huh?_

_Zelda-Rules: School takes away from valuable fandom time, doesn't it?The lastchapter was fun to write because of the twist and I knew you all were so positive it was Ash. He still plays more important part, though._

_Hope this is to your liking.

* * *

_

**Search for Rachel**

"At eight o' clock this morning, Fred and Holly Kline reported that their thirteen-year-old daughter, Rachel, was missing." A woman with flaming red hair that was obviously dyed was speaking into the camera, a channel 5 logo spinning in the corner of the screen. "The Klines were here along with teachers and four other families who had received from their school a week long vacation here before the school year started.

"Many in the area will remember previous missing cases from this same resort. Tourists staying here have heard through the grapevine what they didn't know of before arriving: the legend of the Avalanche Specter. Fear amongst the parents and friends of young boys the age of Kline is rising above the rest, and many residing at the resort wish to leave immediately. However, no one is allowed to exit the building unless accompanied by an authority figure, and the process of leaving the resort is now a slow and messy one.

"Search teams are being organized as we speak, and many from nearby homes are joining the search. The urgency in the area to find Kline is fueled by fear for the girl and a sense of responsibility."

A clip of the police officer Danny spoke to, Tiffany Newhart ran. "The more people we have looking, the better. It keeps morale up and the chances of finding her before something bad happens are better."

"When asked about the legend," said the reporter, "Officer Newhart showed obvious distaste."

"I don't have time to be considering, 'Hmm, I wonder if a zombie, or ghost, or whatever had anything to do with this.' Yes, I know about the supposed ghost attacks that happen in Amity Park, and I still think they're all just clever hoaxes that some people –"

The screen went black. Danny threw the remote at the floor and rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah. This," he transformed into ghost mode, "is a cleverly made hoax. Wow, I must be a genius to do that." Neither Sam nor Tucker laughed.

Sam was on her bed, her knees curled up and her chin resting between them. "We have to do something. That girl is only thirteen."

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Tucker. "Join a search party? They're going to notice if we're gone by ourselves. They're checking the rooms every hour."

"I can go," said Danny. "I can leave a duplicate here. Just dress him in normal clothes and put a hat on him and he'll pass for human."

"Are you sure you want to go by yourself?" asked Tucker. He was sitting in a chair at the table, doing his duty as a techno geek by filling in to the GPO that the ghost was haunting yet again.

"There's no way around it for you guys." Danny, still in ghost mode, closed his eyes and concentrated on a duplicate. When he opened his eyes, there was another Danny Phantom in front of him. "He can stay here while I go."

Sam stood up and picked up a hat from the dresser, placing it on Danny Two's head. "Yeah, he can pass, I guess," she said. "But there is a way one of us can go with you."

Danny cocked his head to the side. "How?"

"You can say I'm in the shower."

No one said anything as Sam smirked at them. "Well, if you want to do it the _easy_ way," said Tucker.

Defeated, Danny sighed. "Fine. Who's coming first?"

"I will," said Tucker and Sam simultaneously. Tucker looked between Danny and Sam, shrugged, and said, "She can go. I'll stay here and make sure Two doesn't do anything stupid."

"Hey!" said Danny Two. Danny's duplicates were able to say simple phrases and understand a few things. They could only work properly if Danny was somehow telling them what to do telepathically.

"In a few hours we'll come back," said Danny. He checked his watch. "It's almost one now, so I'll say around four or five. After that, the shower excuse probably won't work anymore. I'll take Tucker with me tomorrow if we don't find anything tonight." He looked at Sam and noticed she was smiling at him. "… What?"

"Nothing," she said. "It's just that two years of ghost hunting have done you some good."

Danny used all of his might to keep the blood from rushing to his cheeks. A little comment like that shouldn't have that affect on him. "Uh, thanks."

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. "Who is it?" Tucker sang.

"Ash," said the person behind the door. "Can I come in?"

Danny immediately changed back to human mode, which resulted in Danny Two disappearing. That was good, since at that moment Sam had rushed to the door to open it. In walked Ash, who immediately kissed Sam's cheek. "I'm glad you're safe. I hadn't seen you at all today and before I learned the girl's name I was scared to death it was you." Sam smiled and led him into the room where the two boys were. Ash met Danny's eyes for a few seconds, and Danny felt as though he were mocking him. _Stupid, Danny. Don't let jealousy rule your logic._

"Shouldn't you be in your own room?" asked Tucker. "They told us to stay put."

"They already checked my room," he explained. "They should be here any minute. Am I interrupting something?"

"No," all three of them said.

Someone at the door knocked again. "Attendance!" they called. "Open the door, please."

This time Tucker ran to open the door. A man with a clip board stuck his head inside. "Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley, Samantha Manson?" They all nodded. "Who is he?" the man asked, indicating Ash.

"Ashton Highlander," he said.

The man looked down his clipboard. "You've been checked off for this hour. That doesn't mean you can go about everywhere. Get back to your room; this is for your own safety."

Ash shrugged and kissed Sam's cheek again before walking out of the room with the man.

"That was an unnecessary interruption," commented Tucker, who had hardly looked up from the computer.

"We won't have anymore," Danny said, changing back into his ghost mode. He concentrated and another duplicate formed. He tossed a sweater and a hat at him and said, "Put those on. Tucker? If someone knocks on the door again, turn the shower on." Danny took Sam's hand and led her onto the balcony. "Are you ready?"

"Have I ever not been?" she asked, gripping him as he flew off of the balcony with her.

Tucker looked after the two of them and shook his head. "Why was I dumb enough to let them go off alone?" he asked, turning back to the emssage boards. "Because I'm just _too_ good of a friend, aren't I? Yeah, that's it."

* * *

The chill air along with Danny's ghost form being so close made Sam shiver as they flew above the mountain tops. They'd been flying for an hour and thirty minutes so far, stopping every now and then to search beneath thick tree branches. It had been easy to avoid search parties spotting them, Danny making them invisible whenever they were seen nearby.

"How far could she have gotten in six hours?" asked Danny incredulously.

"She was kidnapped by a ghost, remember?" Sam asked. "She could be anywhere."

"And anywhere is a very big place."

"Don't you love our job?"

Danny looked sideways at Sam. "_Our_ job? All this time I thought it was _my_ job."

Sam rolled her eyes and laughed. "Come on, Danny. Tucker and I have been with you all this time. The ghost hunting is kind of a team thing, you know."

Danny smiled to himself, still trying to focus on finding searching for Rachel. They were only a couple of miles away from the resort, since they'd been searching each mountain as thoroughly as possible. They'd searched five. Conversation, however, was a way they'd learned to keep themselves from becoming lazy or distracted by anything else. "Yeah, I know," he said. "If it weren't for you guys I probably wouldn't be here. But it isn't so much your responsibility as it is mine. I appreciate the help, though."

"What are best friends for?" she asked. "Fighting ghosts, breaking magic spells, saving them from their doom… you know, the basics."

Danny laughed. That's usually what they did. Unfortunately. These days they were lucky if Danny had time to watch a movie with them, what with the increase in ghost activity over the months and his ever failing attempts to finish his homework. "Along with letting them copy your notes, because if you don't, they fail miserably." He spotted a small jut in the rocks, hiding what looked like a cave. "Let's look in there," he said, pointing towards it. Sam nodded in agreement.

Flying down and into the cave, Danny lit the dark space with a glowing hand. He set Sam down carefully and walked forward, looking around. "Rachel," he called, the sound echoing back to him.

Behind him Sam watched silently. The green light that illuminated the space they were in seemed to suit Danny's ghost form. He'd long since been able to make ectoplasm rays while in human form, but the way it shone off his white hair and matched his green eyes…

Okay, she thought she'd stopped thinking like that a long time ago.

But she had to notice how ghost fighting had changed Danny not only mentally but physically. He was no longer the lanky teenager, nor was he the bulky jock like Dash was (and getting bulkier by the day).He had a rougher look to him, but still the laid back and still slightly klutzy Danny Fenton. The skintight suit didn't help either...

"Sam? Saaaam?" Danny noticed Sam staring at him like he wasn't really there, and was beginning to get a little freaked out. "Are you with us?"

"Huh? Oh," she said, shaking her head. Ew.Why the hell was she thinking like that?

_You know why…_

Shut it.

"We ought to go look some more," Danny said, ignoring the fact that Sam had been staring. "Or do you want to take a break? You looked cold up there, and it's kind of warm in here." The sun was shining in the very front of the cave, and that small warmth spread into the dry crevice.

Sam nodded. "Just for a few minutes, though." She sat down on the outside of the cave, at the line where the snow stopped. Danny sat next to her, a few feet away. "We haven't really spent much time together lately, have we? It seems I've been with Tucker more than you. Which isn't bad," sheadded quickly,"but it's different."

"Yeah," he said. "What with my snowboarding, your hikes, along with Ash… so, what, are you two planning on staying together? You look awfully close." He gritted his teeth and mentally slapped himself for bringing this up, but he had to ask while he could.

A shy smile crept across Sam's lips, which she immediately tried to hide. Girly feelings were forbidden."I don't know, really," she admitted. "I think he considers us to be together, and I really do like him. I wouldn't mind being his girlfriend. But as for it going beyond this trip, I don't know. He doesn't live anywhere near Amity Park."

Danny didn't know whether to cheer or rage about what she'd said. "Well, he does seem to be your type, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," she said, not wishing to drag this conversation on. "You know, I think we need to start looking again." He nodded and stood up, also grateful for an excuse to not continue hearing about how great Ash was.

Danny exhaled and his ghost sense went off. Suddenly alert, he held a hand out to Sam to signal her to be quiet. He flew up and out of the cave and hovered in the air, looking for signs of –

"FEAR ME!"

"_Are you kidding me_?" Danny cried, slapping his forhead.He turned to the right and there was the Box Ghost, flying towards him. His hand automatically flew to the Fenton Thermos, which had been with him ever since they'd left the room. This time, though, he wasn't going to suck him into the thermos so quickly.

As the ghost flew closer to him, Danny easily punched upward into his jaw, sending him backwards. Yelping, he righted himself in midair and flew towards Danny again. He smiled smugly and sidestepped, the Box Ghost's momentum carrying him past. He grabbed the ghost's wrists and held them behind his back.

"All right, listen up," he said. "Tell me how the hell you keep getting out of my thermos!"

"Never!" Danny sighed and tightened his grip on the ghost, he cried out again.

"Tell me that and whatever it is you know about the Avalanche Specter," he said threateningly, "and I won't put you in my little cylindrical prison."

The Box Ghost gasped and seemed to debate within himself. "Okay, okay!" he exclaimed. "I, the Box Ghost, was released by my partner, much as the last time!"

"Who's been doing that?" Danny asked, frustrated that he had to deal with him all over again. "What's his name?"

"I've been sworn not to speak his name to the ghost boy."

"Whatever," Danny said, impatient, "just tell me what you know about the Avalanche Specter."

The Box ghost started to squirm in his grasp. "I do not know of his plans," he cried, "all I know is that the trap for the boy has been set. I swear that is all I know! Now release me child, for I am the ruler of –"

"Yeah, I've heard you before," he said, letting go of him. "You're not off permanently. Next time I see you, it's in the thermos you go," he said, smiling and waving the thermos in front of him.

"Foolish ghost child!" The Box Ghost began to fly away as fast as he could. "You shall be defeated someday soon! You shall, for I am the Box Ghost! Beware me and my new box of power!"

Sam, who had been looking up at this event the whole time, sighed loudly. "What the hell was that about?" she asked loudly as Danny flew back down to her.

"I don't know," Danny said, "but he sure wasn't any help." He held out his hand to her. "Come on, we've already wasted enough time." Sam took his hand and the two of them became invisible, flying up to continue searching the mountain.

* * *

Danny Two had been quiet enough as Tucker conversed with the online ghost geek community. Of course, he wouldn't have noticed if he were being loud, because he had his headphones in. Which is why he didn't know the phone had rung until he glanced up and noticed Two with the phone to his ear.

"Yo!" he yelped, jumping from the chair and snatching it out of the confused duplicate's hands. "Hi. Who is this?"

"Tucker, put Danny back on the phone, will you?"

Tucker gasped. "Mr. Fenton!" Danny Two reached out for the phone, but Tucker pulled away. "How are you? It's been a while!"

"Young man, put my son back on the phone! There are rumors of ghost activity on the news and he doesn't sound very well."

"Oh... well," Tucker stuttered, "he's got a cold. He's sort of delusional, not able to speak a lot." He glared at Two, who was now trying to wrestle the phone from his arm. "Danny, stop! You need your rest."

"What about the ghosts?" asked Jack. "Do you know anything? Maddie and I are preparing to startdriving upthere!"

"Uh... I don't know anything about it, but--"

"Oh, Jack, give me the phone..." He could hear noises on the other end that indicated Mrs. Fenton was trying to take the phone. "Tucker, we're going there no matter what. If my baby's sick and there are ghosts... we'll be there in a few hours."

"But Mrs. Fenton, I--" He heard a click. Sighing, he put the phone back on the reciever. Great. Another complication. Danny wasn't going to like hearing about this. Oh, well, at least Jazz wasn't going to be coming. Like that was so much of a sweetener to the bitterness of their situation.

He pulled out his cell phone to tell him the news. With his finger over the talk button, he paused. Danny should be back before they got here, right? He could tell him then.

* * *

_Author's Note: If you didn't realize that this was coming, shame on you! Actually, I didn't realize it either until halfway through this chapter, but oh well.Okay... next chapter, Danny's parents get there and, well, act like themselves if you know what I mean. Danny and Tucker sneak away to search for Rachel more while Sam holds down the fort and has some alone time with Ash... (o.o) Look out for that!_

_XKismetX_


	8. Black and White

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: Yeah it's late. School started, I finally got a chance to write. Thanks for the lovely reviewing! Hopefully this chapter flows well, I tried to makeup for it with some stuff... if I dragged this on, though, tell me please! I had to fill in quite a bit of info, I couldn't find a good ending point. If I play my cards right, mid-September should be a good deadline. I heart you all!_

_You'll all love to read this one..._

_

* * *

_

**Black and White**

The sun was beginning to disappear under a mountain peek by the time Danny and Sam landed firmly on the deck to their apartment. On their way back, they noticed the herds of people on foot and snowmobiles surrounding the area up to a mile, and a few helicopters as well. Despite all of the effort being put into finding Rachel, no sign of her had been found. That fact was known very well to the girl and phantom on the deck.

"All that time and no clue of where she is," complained Sam. "Except for that nonesense the Box Ghost told us."

"Didn't really help much, did it?" asked Danny, taking this time to change back into human form. He instantly began to shiver. "Man, it is cold out here. I guess I'm used to cold as a ghost. How'd you survive out here?"

Shrugging, Sam reached out for the handle to the glass door. She hesitated and put a finger to her lips, telling Danny to be quiet. She leaned closer to the door...

"If you can't tell me where they are, I'll have to file both of them missing."

"Oh, they should be here _somewhere_," said Tucker's louder than normal voice. "I'm sure they _didn't get far!_"

Danny hit his head hard. "Man! I forgot about the double." He grabbed the handle from Sam and pulled it open. Tucker sighed in relief and the man with the clipboard and annoyed expression. "Um... looking for us?" he asked, smiling innocently. Sam stood next to him, copying the look.

Tucker smiled as well, crying out in an overdramatic tone, "Danny! Sam! How did you two slip past me? I thought you were in the bathroom." He said the last part with a hint of a growl.

"I guess you were too absorbed in your precious computer, Tuck," said Sam, smirking. After that, the man didn't ask any questions and left without another word, leaving the three alone.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY PARENTS ARE COMING?" 

While Sam was almost knocked over in surprise at his outburst, Tucker had had a while to prepare for this. "They called about an hour ago," he explained. "They saw the news and at the first mention of ghosts, you know what they do."

Danny slumped down against his bed and hit his head on the side. Just great. He already had the hotel employees and Ash to worry about noticing they were missing, but now his parents would be here. "What exactly did they say?"

"Well, your double picked up the phone and was talking weird," said Tucker, "so I had to say you'd caught a cold and..."

"Are you nuts?" Danny exclaimed. "My mom's going to check on me every two minutes now, along with the ghost thing! My dad will probably think it's the ghost flu or something."

Sam smiled and rolled her eyes. "But you were right, Tucker," she said. Before Tucker could get too excited, she finished with, "We know what they do. Ghost-hunting. Which means they'll be too busy to bother us, and Danny and you can still search for Rachel."

Leave it to her to point out the obvious _again_.

This idea put Danny in a slightly better mood, but the knowledge that his parents would still be at the hotel in about two hours dulled it. He sighed and leaned back on his bed. "Good point, Sam," he said. "Tomorrow morning, Tucker and I will start searching for her... but wait," he added, sitting up to look at his friends. "Don't you think that maybe we should search some tonight? Who knows what a few hours will mean for the ghost? For all we know, he could start up an avalanche in five minutes and all of today would be wasted!"

Tucker held a hand up to calm him down. "Chill, dude," he said. "No ghost is going to make a avalanche any time soon. Some guy has to find her first."

"So all we have to do is wait for some sad, lovestruck kid to chase after his crush and then we're all set!" Sam said with sarcastic happiness.

A faint grumbling sound reached Danny's ears at the same time a small pang went through his stomach. He checked the clock on the wall and read that it was nearing six. He hadn't eaten a decent meal all day. "You're right," he said, standing up and walking to his suitcase. The shirt he was wearing wasn't thick enough to protect from the cold outside well, but inside he was feeling toasty. He stripped off the sweater and pulled on a navy blue T-shirt. "Right now, I'm hungry and need something normal to do. Do you know if we're allowed out of our rooms yet, Tucker?"

"At six thirty they're going to let us down to eat one floor at a time, since not everyone can afford room service," he explained. "Lucky for us they decided to go from top to bottom."

"What, you don't have enough junk stuffed in this room to fill you up?" asked Sam, prodding his suitcase with her foot. She had gotten up from her bed and walked across the room when Danny started changing out of modesty.

Tucker laughed as he walked to the trash ridden table that his laptop lay on. "Reasearch works up an appetite," he said, piling the plastic and paper into a trash can. "Plus I have a high metabolism, which is why I eat lots of meat."

Slightly agitated, she replied, "That doesn't make any sense, Tucker, since breads and plenty of veggies have more fiber."

"Let's not get into this, please," Dannycalled from the other side of the room.

"Speaking of the computer, did you learn anything?"

In an instant Tucker was back at the computer, clicking on an icon on his desktop. "I compiled all the information I could in as little space as possible," he said in quite the excited tone. "I have like four people who are helping me full time now when they found out that it was actually on the news. Maybe they think they'll get credit or something, but anyway… I have one person sending me the names of all the people who were killed in the avalanches, another trying to find a pattern in the mountains the avalanches occurred in… all sorts of stuff!"

The sight of Tucker's childish excitement at the cooperation of the forum members, which was a little impressive, even to Sam, made her smile. She crossed her arms and leaned toward Danny, whispering, "He looks like he's ready to wet himself, doesn't he?" Danny laughed loudly and Tucker looked up in confusion, causing Sam to laugh as well.

"Okay, okay, anyways," Danny said once he'd calmed down, "that's all good. Did you find anything new, though?"

Tucker's brow furrowed and he turned back to the screen, scrolling down the list. "Um… well, I looked at the efforts made in the last five kidnappings to find them. They seem to have added considerably more resources every year. Before then I couldn't find enough information. They've gone full out this time, which I'm sure you guys probably noticed. Helicopters, snowmobiles, and I think that on one report I streamed, if they don't find her by tomorrow they're bringing in the National Guard…. Also, I think you should know this," he added, pointing to a spot on the screen. "Ghost hunters from around the state are coming here, apparently, not just your parents."

Danny's hand connected with his face for not the first time that day. "Brilliant. Man, if someone ecto-blasts me thinking I'm the Specter I'm gonna be pissed."

"Do you think," Sam said thoughtfully, "that if your parents heard about it, that maybe Valerie has? Or maybe Vlad?"

"Vlad's probably known about the Specter since forever," Danny said. "You know how creepily ominous he is. As for Valerie, dear God I hope her dad keeps her from coming here." Even over a year since the Pariah Dark incident where he and Valerie had had a temporary truce (which he most likely ruined when he revealed her identity to her dad), she still chased him through the skies of Amity. As Danny's powers evolved, so did her skills, so the two had been a nearly even match for longer than Danny cared to relive.

Tucker turned in his chair to Sam and Danny. "So, what? Once we're allowed downstairs, do you think we can get a good grip on what's going on?"

Nodding, Danny thought aloud, "And maybe afterwards I can go intangible and listen in on what the police are saying."

"Good idea," said Sam. She looked at him with concern. "Just make sure that you get to bed before three or something… we don't want you half asleep tomorrow when you and Tucker look around."

Despite himself, he smiled and turned away. Why did such a small comment suddenly make his stomach flip? "I'm used to late nights, Sam," he said. "No worries."

"You have a point."

Tucker coughed loudly, catching Danny's attention. "And the dinner bell is ringing," he said, indicating the time. 6:28.

The three of them entered the hallways, seemingly at the same exact time as most of those staying on this floor. Something occurred to Danny and he turned to Sam. "What floor is Ash on?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Second. Why?"

He shrugged and tried to act cool, walking ahead of Tucker and her. "I dunno," he said. "Just wondering if he'd get to eat with us."

"So you don't get some kind of bad vibe from him anymore?" Sam asked, smiling hopefully.

Tucker took the shining opportunity and spoke before Danny could. "No, Danny's cool with him now," he explained. "The whole over-protective brother thing, you know?" Under his breath he mumbled, "I still say you're just working him." Sam rolled her eyes and glared at him.

"Am not, and you might want to silence yourself. I sleep in your room, and I know where the kitchenware is, if you catch my drift."

"Hey, Danny!" Tucker yelped. He ran ahead of her to where he stood, leaving Sam to smirk behind them, hands in the pockets of her hoodie.

* * *

Danny hit his head against the windowpane repeatedly. Tucker stood next to him, shaking his head at the pathetic sight, while Sam stood at a distance. "You're overreacting," she sang for the twentieth time since they ate dinner. 

Danny paused for a moment to look at her and say, "I know," before busying himself with self-inflicted pain again.

At that moment, the lobby filled with cameras and police officers was now filled with two more people and enough bags and weapons to take the space of four.

"Where's that blasted ghost?"

"Still think I'm overreacting?" Danny mumbled.

"Yep," said Tucker. "You should be used to this after sixteen years."

Two pairs of arms wrapped around Danny's neck. "My baby, why are you down here if you have a cold? You should be upstairs!"

Danny ducked from under his mother's arms and backed away. "I'm fine, mom, really! I think it was just, like… a two hour cold. You know, there have been cases reported everywhere, you know… yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled.

Maddie leaned forward, examining her son's face. "Well… you don't look sick. You don't have a fever," she said, placing her hand on her head. "I suppose… are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes! Yes, I am a-okay, Mom!" he cried, relieved that she was buying it.

From behind her, his dad suddenly appeared, holding a rather large weapon threateningly and looking around suspiciously. Behind him a male officer glared with authority. "Sir, if you would please holster your weapon. If you're here to join the search parties, we need you to sign a few forms on your area of…" he looked the Fentons up and down. "Expertise."

Just as suddenly as they're made their entrance, his parents were ushered to another room. Danny sighed and leaned his head back. "Did I mention how much I love road trips?"

"A few times, yeah," Tucker said from behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go, man. The next floors are supposed to be coming down soon for dinner… hey you think we can get another plate of that lasagna? It was the best!"

"No, Tucker," reprimanded Sam. "This place is full of authority figures. I'm disturbed. Let's go back to our room."

* * *

The next morning, Sam was awakened by the annoying jingles from Tucker's PDA. She buried her face in her pillow and tried to recall her dream so she could slip back into it… something about the mountains… only it was warm… and someone was there… Ash? She smiled into her pillow. At least, until her canopy was pulled back and light flooded through her eyelids. "Wakey, wakey, tofu eggs and bac-y!" sang Tucker's voice. 

She groaned and reluctantly sat up, eyes closed tightly. "Quit watching cartoons once in a while, why don't you?" she mumbled, referring to the quote he'd used.

"Sam, it's ten," said Tucker, pointing at the clock. "And I need you to wake Danny up somehow. I think he's dead."

Sam rolled her eyes. "I told him not to spy on the police for so long," she exclaimed. She crawled over to his bed and sat next to him. She leaned towards his ear and mustered all of her agitation into two words.

"WAKE UP!"

Screaming, Danny jumped up and fell sideways, his head and one arm hanging over the side of the bed. He pulled himself up and stared at Sam in utter shock. "Holy Christ, Sam!" he cried. "What was that about?"

Standing up and pulling a random outfit out of her suitcase, she said, "If I have to go through Tucker's sun-shiny torture, so do you." She looked at Tucker and tried to tame her tangled hair. "You owe me coffee. Make it now." With that she entered the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face.

Well, it was better than the way her parent's woke up. Slightly.

Once everyone was awake and more-or-less happy, the three made their way downstairs. Danny and Tucker would check in with the Fentons before going back upstairs to search for Rachel. Sam would man the fort, keeping up with all the emails Tucker was sent and doing a bit of searching of her own. However, since the initial shock of the kidnapping was over with, they were allowed to enter other rooms. She had every intention of inviting Ash into their room so she wouldn't be lonely… and she had every intention of keeping him at a distance most of the time.

Danny poured himself a cup of coffee, aside from the one he'd had in their room, and sat at the table with his friends and Ash, who had joined them yet again. "I talked to my parents. They are about to leave with the first group. I think they've gotten enough ghost hunters here to have at least four accompany every party."

Ash nodded from across the table. "Your parents hunt ghosts. I knew that if you guys were from Amity Park, you'd know a ton about ghosts, but a family of hunters? That's sick." He turned to Sam and ran his fingers over her hand. "I bet you've had _loads_ of fun living in that town."

Sam shrugged. "Never a dull moment with Danny as your friend," she said, winking at the other two boys. Danny and Tucker exchanged glances when she looked away.

"Danny and I are going to head back upstairs," Tucker said, setting his silverware down and yanking Danny by his shoulder. "I need a shower and Danny's gonna take a nap or something.

"I wish," he mumbled under his breath as the two walked away, leaving Sam and Ash alone. Comforting thoughts.

Sam followed Tucker and Danny's backs until they disappeared from view. It was now about eleven o' clock, and she wasn't expecting those two to be back until late afternoon. She felt a cool pressure against her cheek and turned, her lips connecting with Ash's. She closed her eyes and let him kiss her softly for a few moments before pulling back. Taking a final sip of her juice, she took his hand and led him away from their table. "Air hockey?" He nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist, leading her to the arcade.

Just as Sam and Ash were about to begin playing, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around and found herself eye level with Mrs. Fenton. "Oh, uh... hi, Mrs. Fenton," she said, slightly surprised. "I thought you were joining the search party?"

"There's been a postponement," she explained, frowning. "Where's Danny?"

"He's taking a nap... he didn't get good rest last night," she explained.

Maddie sighed. "That sounds too much like him," she murmured. Turning her attention back to Sam, she said, "Well, I'm not supposed to tell anyone this. It's suppsoed to stay away from the media, but you're a good kid. I trust you, and I'd like for you to tell Danny."

Now Sam was interested. "Tell him what, Mrs. Fenton?"

"A young boy who was in the group with Rachel Kline has snuck out somehow," she said solemnly. "Paul Kahler. They're reorganizing the parties to search in the areas they'd searched yesterday. Jack and i are going to be on the teams searching for Rachel. Can you tell Danny."

Sam bit her lip. The final warning had come sooner than she'd thought. "Uh... yeah. I'll tell him. Good luck."

"Oh, thanks sweetie," she said before walking out of the room toward the main lobby.

Sam sighed and leaned against the table. Behind her, Ash whispered, "Everything okay?"

* * *

At the door to their room, Sam put a hand on Ash's chest signaling him to stop. "Look, I have to go in here by myself real quick, okay? I'll come back out and let you in later." She pulled the key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. "I have to stay in the room for a while to do stuff. Do you want to stay, too?" 

"What do you think?" he said, smiling deviously.

She opened the door and slipped in. No signs of the boys, so she knew they'd already left. On the table was a walkie-talkie. Danny had the other. She picked it up and pressed the talk button. "Danny! Tucker! One of you, pick up!"

"What is it?" came the quick reply of Danny's voice. "Do you need us to come back?"

"No," said Sam, "but we have another problem. The second part of the equation's gone."

Danny cursed into the walkie-talkie. "The guy's already missing?"

"Afraid so. I don't think the media knows yet. Your mom told me. The good news is that they're researching the areas they searched yesterday, so less traffic where you'll be looking. The bad news -"

"Our deadline just got shorter."

"Exactly. Look, Ash is outside waiting to come in. He thinks both of you are here. What do I tell him?"

There was a breif pause on Danny's end. Finally, he answered, "Say we went down before you got there and joined a search team with my parents." They exchanged their good-byes and Sam rushed to the door to let Ash in.

Hours later, Sam sat at the computer, impatiently waiting for whatever email was supposed to come through. The two had watchedthree movies and talked about more things than she could recall. Now, Ash was channel flipping, laying back on Danny's bed (it just so happened to be the middle one). It was just past five, and they'd spent most of the day in their room, save for a late lunch downstairs and breaks for when Sam talked to Danny or Tucker.

"Alright," Ash finally said, setting down the remote. "I've been patient. I have to know now. What the bloody hell are you waiting for?"

Sam shot her eyes to the side, not moving her head from the screen. "Stuff for Tucker."

"You seem awfully eager to get a look at it."

"It's important... in fact..." The closed mailbox suddenly popper open with a yellow envelope. "Success," she whispered, moving the mouse.

Ash leans back on the bed and gazed at her with polite interest. "What stuff exactly?"

She shrugged. "Just ghost stuff. Tucker took an interest in the legend, and he wanted something from a friend." She clicked the icon and read the new email.

Sender: Victims List - Sorry Late

_Hey, MM! ProudTechLover asked for these and told me to just email them to you. Knew you two were tight! Anyway, this is a list of all of the victims of kidnappings/avalanches around this date every year since they began. Some years are missing. I have links to the place I found the name. I hope this somehow helps you!_

Below was a long list of names per year, one boy, one girl. She scrolled up and down, scanning before she seriously began to read it. The first year was in the 80s, around the time the legend popped up.

The first name was Alice Tollison. The second name was Ashton Highlander.

Sam sucked in a breath and stared at the name. She glanced to the boy sitting on her friend's bed, the boy who looked hardly older than herself. And very not dead. He was looking at her with concern. "Are you okay?"

_Must be the same name_, she thought. However, something told her to click the link next to the name. Following her instincts, she moved her mouse to the blue words. An archive of obituaries appeared, and the third down, next to a very pretty girl with shiny hair, was a boy of seventeen. A black and white photo, but she knew that the eyes were a piercing green.

She turned around defensively, suddenly realizing the truth. Ash was standing behind her, staring at the floor and frowning.

"I knew you'd figure it out," he whispered silently. "You're smart. You're strong. Just like Alice." He looked up slowly and smiled. "Just like her."

Sam glared. "What do you want with me? Where's Rachel? Where's Paul?" She took a step back from him. "What are you if your not a ghost? WHY DID I TRUST YOU?"

Ash's smile grew more crazed, but his eyes were huge with an emotion that did't fit: fear. "I'm not the only one not worthy of trust," he hissed. Before her eyes, he transformed in a cloud of fog. Pale green skin, hair blacker and deeper than before, and eyes that seemed caught somewhere between green and red, as if they couldn't decide.

Sam opened her mouth to scream, but suddenly hands reached out from behind her and clamped over her mouth. Ash raised a hand toward her, his insane grin fading, and then all she knew was blackness.

* * *

_Author's Note: Well... I think I did the scene justice. Long chapter, longest I've written to date I believe. Okay, everyone knew from chapter three who Ash was: now it's confirmed. Yay! No, wait, not yay! Bad! I hope you all have a lot to say. I'm proud that I wrote this in one night... whle it's been waiting for two weeks... oops. Well, I love you all! I'll try to update faster!_

_XKismetX_


	9. Revelations

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: Yes. Ash is evil. I wrote it in big red glossy letters, and I'm sure you all feel quite pleased and yet apparantly seething with hatred. I'd like to see how many of you change that opinion over time... and that's all I'll say on the matter. I recently saw Maternal Instincts. They pretty much showcase everything Danny can do in the beginning, so now I almost feel like Danny's powers should be more evolved... like the duplicate thing. So they will be... soon. Thanks for all of your reviews, I did my best to get this out ASAP!_

_This chapter holds many of the things you've been waiting for as well as some things you may have not expected..._

_

* * *

_

**Understanding**

Danny and Tucker stood beneath a tree, shaded from the little light left in the sky. Tuckerleaned against a rock, relaxingwhile staring at the few stars that were beginning to appear. Ten feet away, Danny stood with the walkie-talkie in his hand, staring at it in frustration.

"Sam!" he yelled into the device. "Pick up already. Where are you? We told you to keep this with you." He released his hold on the button and waited for a reply. After a few seconds he threw it into the air and aimed a glowing hand at it, destroying it with one blast.

Tucker sighed and glanced at his wristwatch. It was almost eight o' clock. They'd been trying to contact Sam for a few minutes now to tell her that they were on their way back. It had been a few hours since they last spoke to her, though. Personally, Tucker wanted to just go ahead and get out of the bitter cold.

He saw a pair of legs appear in front of his face. He looked up to see Danny's tired face. "Can I see your walkie-talkie?"

"If you promise to behave with it," he warned, reaching into his pocket and holding it up to him. Danny walked away again, repeating her name into the speaker. They could always just fly back. Sam didn't need to know they were coming, did she? The boy was just fitting too well into the unrequited lover role.

"I don't get it," Danny finally said, tossing the walkie-talkie back to Tucker. "Why won't she answer?"

"Maybe she's busy. Ash was with her," Tucker said. He regreted the words the moment he said them as Danny's face contorted in annoyance. "Sorry."

Danny sighed and looked up at the sky, much as Tucker had been. "Let's just go back. We didn't find any sign of either of them today, and the Box Ghost actually grew some brains and didn't show up nearby."

"Good plan," he agreed, grabbing Danny's wrist as he felt the ghost energy surge through him, becoming intangible and weightless.

It took only a few short minutes for the two to reach the resort. They landed on the balcony to their suite and Tucker cracked the door open a bit, peeking inside. "Hmm," he whispered. "No one's inside." Danny transformed and walked in behind Tucker to an unwelcome scene.

"What happened here?" he cried, looking around the empty room. The chairs at the table had fallen over, the laptop was on its side on the floor, and the walkie-talkie was lying a few feet away from the table.

Behind him, Tucker was spazzing out, picking up his fallen computer. "My baby! Are you broken? Are you dented? Dirty? In any kind of pain?" He held it up to the light. The screensaver was on, which meant it wasn't badly broken.

"Forget about the stupid computer," Danny growled. "Where's Sam? Where's Ash? What the heck went on here!"

Tucker shrugged and set the laptop on the table. "Maybe the answers on here."

Danny sighed in frustration. "Look, Tuck, whatever happened isn't going to be on some file on your computer. Let's go downstairs and see if..." He paused when he saw the shocked expression on Tucker's face. "What? What is it?" He walked next to Tucker to look at the screen.It was some newspaper's homepage, the obituary section."It's dead people, Tuck, why are you --"

"Oh my God, Danny, are you stupid?" Tucker yelled, hitting the back of his head. "Look at the article!" He double clicked one of the scans and a bigger image came up. Reading the words aloud, he said, "Ashton Highlander, born on May 14, 1967, presumed dead on August 4 along with Alice Tollison after a mysterious disappearance and avalanche in the mountains." Looking back at Danny, he exclaimed, "Look at the picture. It looks just like Ash. This is from 1982. We had it totally wrong, Danny. Ash is the Specter. And if he's the ghost... that means..."

Danny yelled in rage andslammed his hand on the desk. It went right through the wood, green smoke rising. He looked at his hands and saw they were glowing, and looked at the rest of him and saw that he'd unconsciously transformed. "I can't believe I'm so stupid!" he yelled. "If he's a ghost, why didn't I ever know? I cannot believe this!"

He clenched his fists and made to hit the table again, but Tucker grabbed his wrist as it was over his head and pulled it behind his back. "Shut up, Danny," he said in a strangely calm voice. "You can beat yourself up about this later. Right now, you need to get your head straight and think a little before running off to help the damsel in distress, got it?"

As much as Danny's instincts, adrenaline, and heart wanted to fly out the window right then and there, his brain somehow overpowered them all and he stayed put. "Why the hell didn't my ghost sense ever go off around him?" he asked. The question was baffling him."I mean, he looks human doesn't he? He acts human, he knows human things... what's the deal with that?"

"I don't know," said Tucker. He picked up a chair and sat in it, closing the window. The email Sam opened appeared on the screen. "But Ash being the Specter makes a little sense, you know."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "It does?"

"Yeah," continued Tucker, pounding on the keyboard and pulling up the article about the Avalanche Specter/Ash. "I mean, we were wondering why some random ghost would take on a human's task, right? Ash being the boy in the legend as well as the ghost is way more plausible." He used the mouse to highlight another section of the text. "A three year absence, two of them being the previous ones. The other year was never mentioned. Maybe Ash was in the Ghost Zone and finally, somehow got loose."

Something clickedin Danny's head. "My dad made his first Fenton Portal about twenty years ago in college, remember?" he said. "The same one that transformed Masters."

Tucker pressed his lips together and looked at the keyboard. "It also explains why he was flirting so much with Sam."

"Huh?" Danny raised his head and looked at Tucker with interest.

"All of the girls he kidnaps have some guy that really likes them," he explained, "and they chase after her. The girl doesn't seem to have a clue that they felt so strongly about them. I think he knew you liked Sam before even you did... but how?"

Danny hit his head against the back of Tucker's chair. Stupid, stupid, stupid Danny! Not only did he completely miss that Ash was a ghost, but now he'd fallen into the trap just like he was meant to. He had to go after Sam, there was no way he wasn't going to. When he did, Ash would kill them both...

Unless he put up a fight.

"He must have no idea who he's messing with," he muttered. Did Ash know he was half ghost? If he did know, then he wondered why Ash hadn't tried to strike him personally. If he was as powerful of a ghost as the legend said... then again, how powerful did a ghost need to be to cause some snow to fall?

Danny walked to his bag and rummaged through it, pulling out the Fentom Thermos. Slinging it over his shoulder, he turned to his friend. "Tucker," he said, "go downstairs and tell them that you can't find Sam or me. My parents should still be out searching somewhere, so you won't have to deal with them freaking out about it, but expect them to ask you a lot of questions. Shut your yap except "I don't know" or "I haven't seen them". If anyone asks about Ash, say you don't know about him either."

"No way, man!" Tucker exclaimed. "I know you're the love-struck hero in this story, but Sam's my best friend, too. I'm going with you."

"And do what?" Danny argued. "Tucker, you're not going anywhere unless I take you. And I'm not, so forget about it. Besides," he added, indicating the computer, "If you find out anything else usefel, you can tell me."

He looked like he still wanted to fight over it, but Tucker realized that the longer the fought, the more harm could be done. "Fine," he said. "Don't do anything stupid, Danny, okay?"

Danny laughed bitterly. "Since when did I do stupid things?"

"Don't even play."

Danny opened the glass door and walked outside. "Join a search party or something, if you absolutely have to do something," he said to Tucker. "Rachel and Paul are both out there somewhere." With that, he flew into the cold night as fast as he could to search for Sam.

* * *

The groundwas hard and warm, but her head lay on what he considered to be one of the softest pillows he'd ever felt. He'd taken it from her bed in the suite, just for her. Even though she had passed out, she looked peaceful and warm... she was always warm everytime she touched him. He bothyearned for and hated that warmth. He knew that it wasn't meant for him, that he wasn't the only one who longed for it. 

She would be cold, soon... and so would the other one.Just like he was.

Until then, he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. He'd found a small cave in one of the mountains, maybe three miles away from the resort. A green fire raged next to her unmoving body. He sat across from her, leaning against the wall. The firecaused shadows to dance over her beautiful face... the face that looked so much like her's...

She stirred. He head moved across the pillow quietly. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, staring into the fire. She gasped and sat up straight, her hair flying into her face. "Where am I?" she cried, looking around the cave. Her eyes landed on him, and her gaze turned from confused to disbelieving, and very quickly into one of anger.

"You!" she yelled, standing up and facing him, fists clenched. "What have you done? Where am I?" Her shoulders fell and she breathed heavily. Her face fell, returned to disbelief. "Why did you do this?"

Ash stood up from where he sat and walked to Sam. He took her wrist tightly in her hand and pulled it up between their face. She tried to squirm away defiantlybut he was much to strong for a normal human. He smiled maliciously and bore holes into her with his eyes. "Do not ask me that again," he whispered threateningly. "It is not the concern of a human. You could not understand."

"Like hell," she whispered back. "You're sick. You manipulated me. You lied to me. I know what you're going to do... you're going to kill me. So why not do it now?"

Ash let go of her arm and walked away silently. His steps looked unstable and forced. Sam didn't care. At that moment she was so filled with anger that whatever admiration she had once felt for Ash had vanished. The traitor... how could she be so stupid... he didn't care about her at all. He just wanted her dead.

She had given her first kiss to this creature... she felt forever violated by the thought.

Ash's back was to her. Looking out through the entrance to the cave, she saw that it was deep into the hours of night. It must be freezing out there, but she could at least try and make a break for it. She took her first steps with slow caution, making sure he wouldn't turn to see her. Finally she started sprinting, ready to leap into the trees when-

A stabbing pain erupted in her back and she fell forward, turning somersaults until she came to a halt. She gasped for breath, the wind knocked out of her by the blast.

Ash appeared in front of her, looking at her with a face only insanity could create. "DON'T MAKE ME DO THAT AGAIN!" he bellowed. "Don't make medo that toyou again! You will stay here damn it! Please..." The rage in his eyes faded away as an entirely different person surfaced. The initial tone of his voice now sounded likehe was near sobs. "Don't. Stay. Don't make me do that, please."

Sam stared at him, mouth agape in shock. Was he... _sorry_ for doing that to her? His voice sounded alien... only then did she begin to take into account the situation she was in. Alone, captured by a ghost with every intent to kill her. That was her basic dilemma, but there was more.

She glanced back to Ash, who was sitting against the wall again, staring into the green flames he must have made with ectoplasm. She knew he was evil; why else would he do such things to so many people? But simply looking at him, he didn't seem much of a threat. He just looked like an anrgy, broken teenager.

_Don't let your feelings get in your way_, she told herself. _He's a liar. _Liar or not, though,she wanted answers to ease her confused mind.

She stood up from the ground, her back aching still but not as badly. Tentatively she walked back to the fire, sitting down and glaring at him. It took her a while to find how to word her demands. "You can at least tell me why it's me here and not some other random girl. Or maybe I am just a random girl," she added thoughtfully. "While we're at it, you can tell me if you even know where Rachel and Paul are."

Ash smirked, not taking his green eyes from the fire. Sam waited quietly as he continued smiling at the ghostly flames. "Humans," he finally scoffed. "Human women, I should say." He looked slowly to her, the bitter smirk plastered on. "No, I don't know where the two children are. Their disappearance was a lovely cover for me, though. Also, no, you aren't some random girl. If you were researching me," he spat, "then you should know better than that."

Sam curled her legs in front of her and wrapped her arms around her knees. She supposed that she did know better, but she wanted to hear from someone else's mouth before her own mind would even think the name.

"That friend of yours... Danny," he said, his smile widening. "It was obvious to me, even with prior knowledge, that he's smitten with you. He doesn't even know how much he cares for you himself. And if he didn't know such a thing, of course you wouldn't. You were, and still are, oblivious. At least he has confronted it." His smiled dropped and his tone changed drastically again. "You are here. I'm sure that soon he will follow. And you are a fool for never noticing, and never returning his feelings."

Sam's eyes were as wide as saucers. Great... so this was her fault. She bit her lip and crawled away from Ash to the other wall, where she curled up again and stared outside into the night. Ash was right. He would come for her. That's just who Danny was, and she expected nothing less of him. But if she could, she would tell him not to search for her. Her stupidity set the trap. His rescue would trigger it to capture them both.

"Danny," she whispered into the cool air. She buried her face between her legs and chest. "I'm sorry." Before she knew it tears escaped her eyes, tears she hadn't shed in so long. Despite herself she gasped loudly, signaling to the insane ghost with her that she was weak enough to cry.

An icy cold hand touched her bruised back, and she held her breath from the feeling... not the cold, but the knowledge of who it was. She wanted to curl away and hide from him in the shadows. She didn't need him to taunt her more. She hated him, he was just a ghost.

Instead of speaking, her knealt besides her and wrapped his arms around her. She shivered from the cold and the fear. What was he doing to her? He pressed his forehead against her shoulder and whispered, "I don't want to do it." His grip around her tightened. "I don't want to do it to you... but you have to learn. Just like the others. You don't know the pain like I have known. I killed her... I didn't mean to. But she didn't know." He turned his head and now hugged the baffled girl."She killed me first!" he cried."You're killing him! _Don't you see_? It has to be done until you learn your mistake..."

He let go of her slowly and looked looked into her eyes. "You look just like Alice," he said softly. "So beautiful... the same eyes." He used a finger to wipe a lingering tear from Sam's cheek. "I never met any except the two of you with such eyes."

Sam shut her amythest eyes tight, hating that he was talking to her like this. She was so confused now. His first words sounded nothing like the Ash she had known just hours ago. The way he spoke just then, though... it was as if he did care about her.He did, and she knew it. But Danny did, too, and that hurt her more than Ash's feelings for her did.

She was killing Danny, and he wasn't even there yet.

She looked up at Ash and stared into him with hatred. "How can you say that to me?" she said. "How can you talk as if you love me when you're going to kill me, too?"

He didn't answer. His face was hard again, and he stood up. "It is because of my love that I must show you your fault," he said, turning around. "Besides... I'm not meant for your warmth. He is."

"Why were you missing for two years," she asked quickly, wanting to change the subject. "People thought you were gone for good. Where did you go?"

Ash laughed again at her words. "It's a funny story, actually," he said, quite casually. "Some other ghost... I knew he was some villain, he had his hair in this evil slicked back style... somehow found me in the mountains and trapped me within a box. It's much like Danny's Fenton Thermos, only different I believe."

"How do you know about the thermos?" asked Sam.

"Did you think I didn't know about his powers, now?" he asked. He turned to her, and this time his eyes were red... why did they change colors so? "Well, let me finish. It turns out the box was sent to a mueseum in Amity Park. Lucky for me, that idiot opened it and let me escape. With a little pulling of his strings I had him to believe we were partners. He told me about the ghost-boy, everything he knew, in fact, including the two humans he was always with. You and Tucker. Well, et cetera, et cetera, here we are." He smiled. "No more talking now. I think you should be satisfied at this point, Sam." He walked into a shadow and emerged with a blanket. "Sleep if you wish. I won't hurt you yet."

_That was reassuring_, she thought bitterly. He handed the blanket to her and she took it reluctantly. Sleep wouldn't come, that was a given. If she did, she knew she'd have nightmares.

* * *

It was early morning. The sun had come over the horizon but was shadowed by the mountains that were to the east. Tucker had gotten very little sleep before his search party had to leave. As in possibly three hours. He'd been questioned and prodded for a very long time by authorities trying to find out where Danny and Sam had disappeared to.

Under the pressure, Tucker had been very nervous, but two years of ghost fighting (or assisting) had taught him a little about keeping cool. He was glad that Danny's mom wasn't the break down and cry type, rather the protect her cubs type. Especially if ghosts might be involved. And boy, were ghosts involved!

The late night chills were disappearing, favoring a less brisk wind and warmer sun. He got his own snowmobile, and had to restrain himself from jumping in childlike joy. This was serious.

If Rachel and Paul weren't the real victims of the Specter, had they really just ended up lost on their own? It was so coincidental... maybe they just wanted to mess with everyone and take advantage of the fear around the area. If that were the case, Tucker hoped he was among those who found them so he could slap them or something.

"I just hope Danny and Sam are okay," he whispered beneath the roar of the motor.

* * *

_Author's Note: I needed a conclusion scene. I think I could've done better, butI wanted to catch everyone up on just what Tucker was doing. He's going to havehis own bit to tell soon.So, a little backstory on Ash. Ooh. I want to hear your thoughts on that. This is the fastest I've EVER written a fanfic ever. My others are 3 years in the making... and not even this far along! I suppose it's because junk's in my life lately, and I write when there's junk. I feel better afterwards, though . So I hope you enjoyed this piece!_

_XKismetX_


	10. Corrupted and Cold

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! What with me being like 275 pages behind on my book for English and at my dad's house, I have a good number of lame excuses to give you all. Of course you don't want to hear them. Ash… some of you feel sorry for him? Good, that's what I wanted. To clarify, yes, it was Vlad that stuck him in the box. We all know how sickeningly ominous he always is… moans over cliffhanger in Reign Storm_

_This one goes out to anyone who lives in the path of Hurricane Katrina. I hope you and your family and friends are safe and out of harm's way. Also to the family members of those lost in 9-11-01: We still have not forgotten. Hopefully our lives will get back to normal soon, and I'm praying for you all._

* * *

**Corrupted and Cold**

Danny didn't know what time it was. All he knew was that the sun was high in the sky, he was tired as hell, and it was still god-forsaken cold. That and he hadn't found any trace of Sam yet.

For all he knew, Tucker was miles behind him, joining a search party for Rachel and Paul. That was after he'd been interrogated by the police force. They were checking in with each other whenever Tucker was alone to avoid suspicion. Each time Tucker had asked him to come back. He'd gone for over a day now without food and little water. Danny swore he was fine, saying he didn't feel hunger as a ghost. But he had to admit that it was messing with him. If ghosts could feel pain and fatigue, why not hunger?

He sighed irritably, closing his eyes as he flew over the pine trees. It was obvious that he wouldn't last long without going back to the resort for some food and a nap. Sam was going to be safe, or at least that's what he hoped. It was only when he arrived that she'd be in real danger, but it wasn't as if he was going to leave her there.

Besides, it wasn't as if an avalanche would do much to hurt him. He was half ghost. He could just take Sam's hand, go intangible, and all would be well. That's why he was pretty certain that Ash didn't know he had ghost powers. If he did, then Ash was just as dumb as the average ghost… okay; so most ghosts weren't very stupid. Scratch that comment, then. But he was definitely as dumb as the Box Ghost.

He opened his eyes slowly and unwillingly. His eyes adjusted to the light with difficulty, showing that he was loosing altitude and falling toward the trees. Yelping, he straightened himself five feet from the thick canopy. Man, how was he supposed to fight when he could barely fly straight? Perhaps a short nap wouldn't be quite so bad after all.

No, he couldn't. Bad idea. Find Sam, Danny, find Sam.

Find Sam and then faint from exhaustion as soon as she cried, my hero? And that snow did look awfully soft…

Before he could argue within himself any longer, he found himself drifting down to the ground, beneath the sun that supplied a little warmth. He slipped into human form and fell asleep.

* * *

Too much time had passed since Sam had awoken. Silence had stretched out during that time, making the hours seem like weeks. Not that she had any objection with talking to her ghost captor; she learned right off the bat that asking question may get her answers, but befuddled ones at best. So, she passed the time staring at the rocky ceiling, braiding her hair, and thinking about how incredibly, unforgivably stupid she had been in the past week.

Falling for Ash's plan was bad enough, but falling for Ash? She wished she could find a decent blunt object that she could hit herself over the head with. How many times had she cursed herself in the past day? It was too much for her to get away with without needing a youth counselor that was for sure.

The one thing that took time to be uncovered by Sam's pride was the fact that she felt like curling into a ball and crying. Not for herself, or for Danny. For Ash. He'd hurt her deeply. Just the thought of saying the words struck a foul taste in her mouth, but she really liked him. Really. And if he hadn't done this, who knows, maybe they could've found some way to go steady even with the distance, and then…

She grasped a chunk of her hair and screamed several more curses in her mind. So the solitude was getting to her. Oh, well. She'd bite her tongue and rip her hair out before letting herself get worked up over Ash.

The worst part was that Ash still liked her, too. She hadn't the faintest idea as to _why_ except that he was insane.

One thing Ash had totally wrong was that he thought Sam didn't have any feelings whatsoever for Danny. Ha, ha, that's a riot. It was actually pretty ironic that the whole point was supposed to be that the girl didn't like the boy. Ash sure did screw up on that small detail.

She heard a metallic clang behind her. She'd been hearing noises like that for a while now and had given up on turning around to see. Ash had gone back to the dark part of the cave and if she stood to follow, he'd hit her with ectoplasm again. That was not an experience she wanted to relive. Only when she heard Ash cough behind her did she turn her head.

Ash was standing above her, looking perfectly human again. The sickening taste rose back into her mouth. At his feet was a tray of fruit and bread, with a glass of water. Not very visually appealing, but at the sight Sam's stomach growled. "I remembered you didn't like meat," he said quietly, smiling softly. "Eat before you starve."

Sam glared up at him. "Don't talk to me like that," she said coldly. "You should care less if I starve."

The smile evaporated from his face and he turned before anything could be revealed from his face. "I told you I didn't want to do it," he hissed.

"Then why do it?" she shot back.

"You know why," he said, his voice growing tense.

Sam shrugged. She looked back towards the shadows he appeared from, and a question rose in her mind. "What are you doing back there, anyway?"

"That," he replied, "will be known to you soon. Whenever you're friend arrives."

A lump formed in her throat as numerous possibilities came to her mind. "Don't you dare hurt Danny," she growled.

"Nothing I do to him is worse than anything you've already accomplished," he retorted. Even though Sam couldn't see, she just knew that he was smirking smugly. "Besides, you know exactly what I'm going to do, and why."

"Because of Alice," she said, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I do know. So? Look, I'm sorry she didn't like you and all, but it's not exactly something to kill people over." She didn't realize that what she was saying could be potentially dangerous. She was tired, hungry, alone, and pissed off. "I wouldn't have even turned my back on Danny if it wasn't for you, you know that?"

Ash clenched his fist and shut his eyes tightly, something Sam couldn't see as she drew on. "Shut up."

"You're just bitter and obsessed and you're stuck in a cycle. Seduce a girl, lure her friend away, and kill them both. Do you really even benefit from it? How do they learn some kind of lesson if they're dead?"

"SHUT UP!" he yelled turning on her. His appearance grew fierce as his eyes flashed red and he glowed dark green, his black hair flying in a frightening way. Sam gasped and jumped back, kicking over the glass of water in the process. "You don't know anything! I loved Alice! She killed me, and I killed her. Neither of us meant to, I know she didn't! If we had to die then you deserve the same thing! How do I make myself any clearer?" He took a step toward her. Sam backed against the wall, eyes wide with panic. The air around her was growing colder and colder. "You just don't get it, do you? You're so stupid! Why can't you just get it? I love you. I don't want to do it. But I have to. I already picked you, so now I have to finish it. Two years have gone by without my doing it… two years…" He paused, as memories seemed to fly in front of his eyes. A tall black haired ghost in white, with blue skin…. talking senselessly as Ash tried to ask him how exactly he'd found him. The ghost then pulled a gold colored box from behind him and the next thing Ash knew he was hidden within it for what he had expected to be an eternity.

Then the lid opened. He wouldn't have even noticed it if he hadn't heard the Box Ghost's cries of victory at discovering a powerful box and whatnot. After that, it had been quite simple. The Box Ghost wanted to use him to defeat his arch foe, a certain Danny Phantom. He informed Ash that they were in Amity Park, two years after his imprisonment. Ash would have simply flown away until he found his home if the Box Ghost hadn't mentioned that he'd overheard this Danny Phantom was intending to travel to a resort, something he'd overheard by good chance.

Danny Phantom was half boy, half ghost.

He had two friends that seemed to be everywhere with him: one boy, one rather pretty girl.

"Bull," said Sam, braver after seeing Ash hesitate. "Love me… here's some news: if you hadn't done this, there's a good chance I could've liked you back. You're completely insane, you know."

Ash smiled viciously and laughed. "I know. But you're not for me." He nodded his head to the plate of food. "Eat. You know you're hungry."

Without another word, he walked back into the shadows, leaving Sam feeling more alone than ever. She closed her eyes and breathed heavily. No matter how bad it got, Danny couldn't find her. "Please don't find me," she whispered.

She reached for an apple and stared at the lost water. She turned her head and took a fierce bite.

* * *

It was bright. Everywhere he looked all he saw was white, expansive space. Itseemed like the pure light of it all would burn into his retinas.He turned to his right and saw a blur of black contrast against the palette. The blur cleared and he could see ebony hair, shining in the sun. Sam smiled and winked, pushing herself forward on her skis down the hill.

Danny laughed and took off after her, racing her down the mountainside. Faster and faster he went until he was side by side with her, her face glowing with genuine joy. Just the sight made him smile wider.

"Can't catch me," she called mockingly, taking the lead yet again. Danny came out of his daze and got his head back into the race, but Sam had already gone too far ahead. Soon they had both reached the bottom of the slope, panting. She took off her skis and lay back on the snow. "Told you. You couldn't catch me," she sighed.

Danny sat next to her and pulled her up eye level with him. Her smile faded as he focused on her gorgeous eyes, reflecting his own nervousness yet total calm. Their visible, smoky breath mixed as he closed the gap between them, all traces of cold leaving him as he met her warm lips.

Pulling back, he smiled and lifted her hands up by her wrists. "Caught you," he whispered. She smiled back and their faces neared again…

The sound of wings fluttering stirred him and he opened his eyes. A large bird took off from a branch hanging over him into the dark night sky…

"Crap!" he cried, standing up. Nightfall! How long had he been asleep? How far into the night was it? He quickly transformed and flew up past the trees, looking for the moon. Lucky him: it was August fifth, the new moon. The time didn't matter, anyway. Nor did the fact that he knew the fifth was the new moon, even though he was slightly impressed with himself.

The dream…

He had to catch her, no matter what.

* * *

"Alright, people, listen up," called Officer Newhart, leader of the Night Shift C group that Tucker was so fortunately a part of. What an honor. "In thirty minute's we're heading back to be replaced by the next shift. Be back at this point in twenty-nine minutes." With that, her and her subdivision took off on the snowmobiles. Tucker and his subdivision of two policemen and one thirty-something man took off to the right and the rest went left.

He hadn't heard from Danny in hours now. Maybe he'd fallen asleep; it wouldn't exactly be unexpected. He couldn't help but constantly worry, though. He just knew he was just going to break out like he did whenever he was under stress.

"We'll go ahead for fifteen minutes and then double back," said one of the policemen. "I know you two are tired, but keep your eyes peeled. We don't have a use for napping civilians."

Law enforcement was so very kind.

Tucker steered away from the group, but not too far. He wanted to search as much area as he could to find those kids. They'd been gone for days, with no food, no water, and nothing to keep them from the cold. The actual seriousness hadn't really sunk into him before that morning. But now that he was out in the field (on the ground field, at least) he could see the panic hidden behind the people's eyes. Four kids missing with no explanation except ghosts or psychotic killers…

Knowing it was both didn't exactly lull him to sleep.

He slowed the snowmobile when he spotted something that contrasted against the blues and grays of the world around him: a wool, maroon blanket thrown messily against a tree. He remembered something about the missing items that the kids' parents thought were taken by the runaways.

"Hey!" he yelled, honking the horn on the handlebar. "I found something!" The other three turned at his call and drove back towards him. He parked the snowmobile and picked up the blanket. One of the policemen took it from him and looked at it closely.

"It matches the description," he said. To the other officer, he said, "Call Newhart. Tell her we have a-"

Tucker started walking away from the small group, looking behind trees and bushes for any more signs of the kids. To his left he heard the faint sound of a cough. He turned sharply and ran in the direction. Up against a large rock, beneath the other missing, navy blue blanket that blended so well with the darkened surroundings, were a girl and a boy, huddled next to each other for warmth. Both appeared asleep and the girl coughed again.

"They're here!" he cried out, smiling in relief. "I found them, over here!"

The boy stirred from the racket and blinked upwards, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. Seeing Tucker, he smiled weakly and shook the girl lying on his shoulder. "Rae, wake up," he said hoarsely. "They found us." Rachel awoke and sat up, coughing more as the rest of Tucker's division arrived.

"Oh, thank God!" said the man with them, placing a hand on his heart. "Are you children alright?"

"She needs medicine," said Paul, his voice still hoarse. "She's sick. I think it's pneumonia, or something."

"What the heck were you kids thinking?" Tucker asked as the policemen helped Rachel up from the ground. Paul was still strong enough to stand and walk on his own.

"She ran away after her and her dad had a fight about…" Paul hesitated and glanced to Rachel before he continued. "She brought some food and stuff but she ran before I found her, and I was low, too. She had told me that she was leaving but made me swear not to tell, so I just went after her in the direction she went. I wasn't going to just leave her out here but I wasn't going to break my promise to her."

_Idiotic middle school kids_, Tucker thought.

The two children were wrapped in more blankets and, when the rest of the group arrived, given water and medicine. They were both placed on different snowmobiles with the high-ranking officers and taken back to a point where a medical helicopter would pick them up and take them to a hospital twenty miles away.

A new priority was set for the search teams, one that Tucker knew was a wasted resource anyway: Find Sam Manson and Daniel Fenton.

* * *

Right about now, Danny's new best friend was the Box Ghost.

He was flying quietly behind the ghost at a safe distance, shrouded by the occasional tree as he was now away from the heart of the forest. The ghost was moving slowly toward a mountain deliberately, yet not without the characteristic random loops.

It was obvious that the Box Ghost and the Specter were connected somehow. All of the 'my partner' and 'our plan to destroy you' comments made a little sense in his head now.

As Danny flew closer behind him, he could see a dark gray blemish on the white and light gray mountainside. He narrowed his eyes as he realized what it was, and why they were going there.

_Finally…_

He became invisible and sped ahead of the Box Ghost. He reached the small cave, from which a faint green light glowed. Hanging back at the edge of the entrance, he poked his head in and tried to see. No way was he going to light his hand to see better; it might call attention to himself if anyone was in there. He saw and heard nothing except for the green glow, which in itself made the cave worthy for inspection.

The Box Ghost had caught up to him and flew into the cave, with Danny watching from behind. He moved in to the center of the hole and watched after him, though he couldn't see. Suddenly, the back of the pudgy ghost was coming back and a fast speed. Danny ducked to the side as he flew past, crying out. Screw stealth, Danny was going in.

Still invisible he flew deeper into the cave, looking around for signs of Sam. He headed for the source of the green light. As he neared it, the walls were lit up with a phantomlike aura. Hey, a pun. Ugh, focus!

He heard a faint moan. Turning to the sound, he saw a white pillow splashed with ebony hair. He smiled and groaned quietly in relief. He found her! And no sign of the Avalanche Specter.

He flew to where Sam lay against the wall. Next to her laid a silver tray littered with fruit rinds. Holding back the laughter that wanted to escape, he shook her shoulder until her eyes fluttered open. She gasped and he covered her mouth with his hands.

He found her. She was safe. They were hightailing it out of there.

"Shh, Sam," he whispered. "Don't worry. We're maybe five miles from the resort, we'll be back in no time."

Sam sat up and pulled Danny's hand from her mouth. "Danny, _go_!" she said quietly. "Get out of here, leave me. I'm fine."

_What the hell?_ Danny looked at her, confused. She didn't want him to save her? What was that about? "What… Why? Look, Sam, nothing's going to happen. We can leave right now. The Specter doesn't know I'm a ghost, he's not expecting-"

"Danny, listen!" she hissed. "Ash does know you have powers. He's expecting you! I don't know what it is but he's been doing something back there, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"The Specter isn't going to hurt me," he said, wrapping his arms around your neck. "If he tries, I have the thermos with me. Let's get out of here." He began to go intangible when a cold struck him and he shivered, exhaling blue.

"But you just got here."

A sharp, twisting pain hit him in his back.

He fell forward, his dark hair falling in his face.

Dark…?

He staggered and fell into Sam, his eyes inches from her wide, shocked amethyst. Then everything faded from green to black.

* * *

_Author's Note: Ooh. Heehee. Not much to say except that after this, you all better have some reviews to give! Much love,_

_Saramis Kismet (new name)_


	11. Blanketing the Heart

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Notes: See my profile for review responses and an update on my stories to come. I'm now on two C2s (I still need to know what that stands for), 19 favorite stories, 7 favorite authors, 4 author alertsand 27 story alerts, and at this point 78 reviews. You guys rock my world so much! Ah, Ultimate Enemy gave me so much to use. The movie was grand, way better than even Reign Storm, I cannot wait for the new episodes to follow it! I see a bright prosperous future for the show. BK toys and Cap'n Crunch endorsements mean money for Nick and we all know how much Nick loves money... so much. mounrns loss of good Nick shows_

**

* * *

Blanketing the Heart**

"This is the Channel Five newsroom, informing you live on current events." The TV screen showed a red-haired woman in her early thirties who looked like she always already going through her midlife crisis. "It's been five days since the first disappearance of Rachel Kline. Since then, three others have gone missing, two of which were lost just last night. Early this morning, search teams returned with both Kline and classmate Paul Tollison. The fourteen year olds were sent by helicopter to Providence hospital. Our information tells us that it is possible that Kline has a severe case of either pneumonia or hypothermia, and that she is being given immediate care. Their families are being taken to the hospital shortly.

"Samantha Manson and Danny Fenton are both still missing in the mountains, and it seems that the supposed link between the four children is invalid. Samantha is the heiress to the toothpick cellophane wrapping machine fortune. The Manson family has funded more search teams to scan a wider radius of the area, though they were both unavailable for comment. All search squadrons have been reprioritized on finding Manson and Fenton.

"The Fentons, infamous ghost-hunters from Amity Park, have been on the search teams since before their son's disappearance. They had responded to the legend of the Avalanche Specter, but since Kline and Tollison were found, rumors of a ghost kidnapping are growing less popular. However, new theories about the true Avalanche's victims are rising."

"I remember seeing the two of them around a lot, so I take it they were good friends," said an employee from the resort. "Samantha seemed to be with this other guy, though. I'm still keen on the fact that the Specter's back and that these two are the real victims, bless them."

"I swear, if I hear one more stupid story about this ghost," hissed a woman in a ski jacket. "No, I don't doubt ghosts are real. I live nearby Amity Park, so may lightening strike me down if I don't believe in ghosts. It's just that the whole Avalanche Specter thing is an old folk legend used to intrigue tourists and now everyone believes in it. Show me proof that there's a ghost involved and I'll believe you, but without it, we have to keep a rational mind about these kids in danger."

"All possibilities of reason to these missing cases are being taken into consideration, according to officials," said the reporter. "It is quite well-known that Newhart, who has commanded search teams here before, is the most outspoken to the ghost theory. As new information comes, the Channel 5 newsroom will keep you posted."

From her bed on the bottom bunk, Jazz sighed loudly and turned the small TV off. Pretty much as soon as she had unpacked all of her clothes, books, and other possessions into her new dorm room in the northern part of the state, her parents had called. At first she thought it was all going to be about her dad wondering if she'd seen any ghostly activity. Finding out Danny was missing wasn't what she'd expected.

Of course she had a good idea of what was going on. If the words Danny and ghost were ever in the same topic, there wasn't much else that could be happening. Duh.Since she wasn't able to just call Danny and ask him about it this time around,she had donethe one thingshe could do best: research.The fact that Sam was the other missing person made sense, though. It didn't relieve her of her stress one bit, if it hadn't totally skyrocketed.

"Hey," said her roommate Nicolefrom the bunk above her. She dropped her head over the side of her bed and stared at Jazz with interest. "Did that lady say something about Fentons? Isn't that your family?"

"Yes," she said, biting her lip and laying back on her pillow.

"So that's your brother that's missing? Oh, man, Jazmine, you must be so worried!" she replied, her voice dripping with forced sympathy.

"Yeah," she answered again. "He's always getting himself in and out of trouble though… I'm sure he'll make it through." Her voice sounded optimistic, but that was all of her that did.

_Just don't loose your head, Danny_, she silently willed him.

* * *

Danny opened his eyes into the shiningthe light and smiled. This scene was familiar. The bright sun reflecting off of the smooth, untouched blankets of snow was a sign of salvation to him at this point. All of this was seen past the face of the one thing that had made him smiled widest. Sam hovered over his body, her hair falling into his face.Her eyes were so close to his... all he had to do was inch up a little bit and… 

"Oh my God, Danny, you're awake!"she cried. She leaned forward pass his face and grasped him around the neck for deal life.She sounded like she wasready to sibon his shoulder. "We have to get out of here. You've been unconscious for so long, Danny. Ash stunned you with a ghost ray and carried us both to a mountainside even further from the resort. He's insane, he's not going to stop for anything!"

Definitely not the response he was expecting,and her words caused his head to spin. Wasn't... wasn't this the dream?

Oh, wait. Yeah. Crap.

"Don't worry, Sam, I've got him," he reassured her, once he had his head back in the game. He took his hands from his neck. "I'm going ghost."

He waited for the familiar feeling of his ghost self overlapping his human body, but nothing happened. He looked at Sam worriedly as she diverted her eyes to his wrists. He followed her gaze and saw two metallic cuffs on both hands, glowing green. "No," he said disbelieving, dropping his head in his hands. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, no ghost powers, and a ghost totally bent on destroying him and Sam.

Sam took him by the hand and looked at the cuff on his wrist. After Ash had stunned Danny into unconsciousness, he had summoned the Box Ghost back from where he'd blasted him off to in anger to place them on Danny. They looked makeshift, but they did the trick to keep Danny from transforming. "The thing Ash had been working on in the cavewas preparing for you. The whole time we were with him, he knew you were Danny Phantom. I think he got it all out of the Box Ghost."

"Did he hurt you?" Danny asked. She shook her head slowly, looking at the ground between them. Something was obviously wrong with her. Her voice was low and her movements were mechanical. "What is it? Sam, what's wrong?"

"What isn't wrong?" she asked, laying his hand on the ground. "I fell for Ash's trap, you can't go ghost, and I've spent the last day or so with an obsessive compulsivelovesick ghost. It's like he has split personality disorder or something. Sometimes he's all nice and caring, others he's bitter and closed up, and then he can change right from worrying about me to yelling at me and wishing death on me…" she stopped there, feeling the words begin to just spill from her mouth. Looking up for Danny's reaction she saw his eyes glowering with anger.

"He is going to pay for this," he said defiantly, "one way or another."

"Danny, what can you do?" Sam sighed. "You're powerless. We have to get out of some other way, but how?"

Danny looked away from her and out toward their surroundings. He seemed to be deep in thought. "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know. He just flew back in the direction we came."

"Do you know wherethe thermos is?"

"I don't know," she repeated. "You dropped it when he hit you… are you okay, Danny? He hit you hard, way harder than he hit me-"

"I thought you said he didn't hurt you!" Danny exclaimed, looking back to Sam. Jeez, the girl was telling him the facts but none of the important stuff. He had to ask her everything. "So, what, the thermos is at the cave?"

Sam nodded. "I guess…."

Danny sighed and rubbed his forehead. Sam usually wasn't this depressed... well, okay, maybe she was just a little, but in a different way. The way she talked and moved worried him. Was it because she thought they weredefinitely going to do? The chances of that were very high, but she never gave up like that.

Why she was acting this way wasn't important. If he wanted to get them off that giant rock, he had to think straight. Of course... Sam was smart. She had been kidnapped by the Specter which was the biggest clue that Danny did like her a lot he could think of without him wearing a sign. If she was thinking about that, and even if she wasn't, now was as good of a time as any to tell her. He took a deep breath and with all of his sixteen year old boy strength said, "Sam, I have to tell you that-"

Sam tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the sky. "Danny, he's coming back," she yelped. "Danny!"

A figure that was unmistakably the Specter hoveringin the air was growing closer quickly. He stood up and moved in front of Sam, holding his fists up. Yeah, like he could do anything in this body! Ash came closer to them, and Danny saw his ghost form for the first time. It looked so similar to his human form except his skin and his eyes.

"Oh, so the baby's woken up from his nap," mocked the Specter, setting down on the ground before him. Danny clenched his teeth and Sam stared at him blankly. "By now I'm sure you realize that your powers are useless. As though a ghost like me couldn't pick you out easily. How could you not think I knew?" You have no choice but to sit and wait for your deaths. But first, why don't we have a little chat?"

"Mind if I pass?" Danny asked. In a suddenrush ofanger he ran forward and swung his fistat Ash's face, but his hand slipped right through. His momentum carried him forward through his bodyand he landed on his chest. Snow caked his face as he sat up and muttered, "Okay, having my powers would be much better than this."

The Spectershook his head and smiled. "I'm sure you want to take out all of that anger and jealousy you've been put through for the last few days. I must say that I'm quite sorry, Danny." He smirked smugly. "I know how you must feel."

"Spare me the bonding, please," retorted Danny, wiping the remainder of snow from his face. "Too bad you don't even want a fair fight, though, isn't it?"

"For you, perhaps," he said. "Yet you still don't even understand…" Ash turned and pointed a finger at Sam. She screamed as he sent a shot at the snow beside her. "I hold all the cards, so you might want to shut up and listen to what I have to say before you get all heroic on me."

This caught Danny's attention like nothing else could. He gave one last glare to him before returning to Sam's side. A spot where the snow had once been was now reduced to a steaming puddle. He placed a hand on her back, as she was hunched over in a reflex.

"You act as if she cared for you as you do," Ash commented from behind them. Danny shot another look at him, aiming all the childish dislike and his present contempt to him. Looking back to Sam, he found her head turned backtowards them, and their eyes met. It was as if she was silently telling him to keep his cool. He couldn't help but feel likehe had already spilled the beans about how he felt, what with how he kept talking about it without Sam flinching.

"She does," he finally said, still looking at her. "Not as much as I do, but she definitely cares."

Even though she had known, hearing it from Danny made it all the more clearand bright to her.It seemed to both wrap her in guilt and happiness at once. Mostly guilt. She bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything that would sidetrack him.

"It's funny," said the Specter, "that you still feel that way. Wasn't it her who ignored you and went to someone else, totally unaware of you?"

"Isn't that mostly your fault, anyway?" Danny retorted. He looked back to Sam. Her eyes were downcast now, and he really needed to her be looking at him.

"Just how much pain have you endured over the last few days?"Avalanche taunted, hovering just over his head. "You are right, though; it is partially because of me. But she told me herself that she would have willingly stayed with me if I hadn't kidnapped her. How does that make you feel?"

"What?" Danny asked, thrown off. She still liked Ash, after knowing what he was, after knowing what Danny felt about it? What was that about?

"Don't pay attention to him, Danny!" Sam urged, grabbing his arm.

He nodded and, ignoring the new information for now, took the opportunity. He winked at her and moved his wrist slightly. At first sheseemed puzzled, butit came to her. They both looked back up at the Specter.

"Sam, if he had been paying attention at all he would notice all the times that I was near him and he didn't even sense me," said Ash, lounging back on the air above the two humans.

"Why, then?" asked Danny, remembering his own question. "Why the hell didn't I ever sense you?"

The Avalanche Specterturned over and looked straight down at him, his red eyes boring into his blue. "Haven't you ever been around a ghost that hasn't set off your sense? Some of us ghosts have that rare ability where, apparently, we're near enough human to pass as them sometimes."

Now that Danny thought about it, he remembered some ghosts that escaped from his ghost sense. Spectra, Johnny 13, Kitty, all three he'd been in close contact with at certain times and he hadn't even known they were there. Well, now it seemed obvious.

"Whenever you did sense me," he continued, "like, for example, the first time I met her in the gas station." His villainous air faltered as he glanced at Sam and smiled. "I kept the Box Ghost near to divert your attention, leaving me to get to know her better."

Sam grit her teeth together, tightening her grip on Danny's arm. "Screw you," she hissed.

Avalanche shook his head sadly, turning back to Danny. "It is only fitting, don't you think," he said with a conversational tone, "that since you've already felt such pain, that she not feel it as well in your death? She's killed you, I know this has hurt you,so she dies as well. You die together, if you cannot live together. You're hearts will be blanketed by the cold!"

"You know," Sam interrupted, glaring into Ash's eyes,"you've been with the Box Ghost a little too long. You're getting awfully repetitive."

With that she reached for a rock that lay next to her, held Danny's hand down to the ground, and in one swift motion smashed the device around his wrist to pieces. She destroyed the other as well, and with a quick smile from Danny, he stood up and looked Ash in the eye.

"Boo."

"What!"Ash cried, staring down at the smashed ghost-deflecting cuffs in Sam's hands.

"Here's some advice," said Danny. "Don't trust the Box Ghost to get you decent equipment."

The anger that ran through Avalache's ectoplasm veins flashed across his eyes as the red glowed brighter than ever. Roaring, he clenched his fists and aimed both at Danny, flying straight toward him. His glowing fists made contact with Danny's chest, pushing him back as Ash continued to fly forward. The impact blew the wind out of him, but he recovered quickly. He grabbed Ash around the elbows and lifted his legs. He kicked Ash's chest and back flipped in the air, pushing him off of him.

Danny adjusted himself in the air just as Ash returned. Red ghost rays came toward him. Hastily he made a ghost shield around him, and the rays were deflected and instead hit the snow below them. The power from the rays, though, sent him backwards and the shield faded too easily.

"Well, you are good, aren't you?" the Specter commented, crossing his arms. "It is difficult to get much of an image from the Box Ghost. Not good enough, though." With both hands, Avalanche created one ghost ray, powerful and fast, shaped like a red icicle.

Before Danny could react, it grazed over his shoulder. He cried out and grabbed the wound leaking ectoplasm. Only a flesh wound, but he figured the fact that it was glowing red and something to do with the pain. From somewhere behind him, he could hear Sam's faint voice, but she was so far away he couldn't make out any of her words. He couldn't think about what she was saying now, though. He had to focus on the Specter.

He had to think of something. Could he use his ghostly wail? Maybe, but only as a last resort, since it usually drained a good amount of his energy. The best he could think of was duplicating himself, so he closed his eyes and tried to make his double as fast as possible. Opening his eyes he saw the double, but gasped in surprise when he saw a triple as well.

"Awesome!" he laughed. Him and his two clones flew toward the Specter, the clones aiming ghost rays at him and Danny jabbing his face. The siege continued, Avalanche working more on his offense than before, seemingly weakening. That was,until he yelled in frustration. Reaching out both arms and pointing them to the ground, his hands glowed blue. This sudden change in colorcausedDanny and his clones.to pause and watch as the snow below them rose into the air and compacted, forming three gigantic snowballs.

"Oh... you can control snow," commented Danny. "That figures."

Ash grinned and the three snowballs flew toward the different Dannys. Danny shielded himself with his arms and went intangible, but his duplicates were both wiped out by the snow.

"Even your fancy tricks aren't enough to beat me," Ash sneered. "You can't defeat me. You and your precious Sam will never be found!"

"Look, reality check," replied Danny. "I've been up against way more powerful ghosts than you, and I've beaten them all. When I was fourteen! So you don't necessarily scare me." That was a lie. At least the fact that he wasn't scared was. Not by him, but by what he said he would do. No way was he letting that happen to them.

"Oh,"Avalanche said casually, shooting an unprepared Danny with a ghost ray. He cringed in pain."Are you so certain that you're not scared?" He smirked and looked tohis rightside towards where they had been earlier. Danny followed his gaze and gasped.

The Box Ghost had Sam by her wrists and was pulling her through the air to the treeline. Pinning her against the trunk, he took out what seemed to be handcuffs and pushed them into the tree aroun her wrists and ankles. She fought against them but they wouldn't budge, and she screamed. It was so faint he could hardly hear her.

"Sam!"

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_Author's Note: Ugh... I should've read like 6 chapters in my book, but I was so itching to write this chapter. Alas, another cliffhangar. Please don't kill/maim/hide in thelaundromatany ferrets (if you're an Eclipse of the Skyfan, you get the joke). Well, I need to read as much as I possibly can of the last hundred and fifty pages of A Tale of Two Cities now, so adeiu... and please give me feedback on how it's going!_

_Saramis Kismet_


	12. Avalanche

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: I'd like to take a moment to recognize Digitaldreamer and her fanart for my story. I absolutely love it, I was really flattered. It can be found by a link in my profile. __I'm sorry about all the typos in the chapters: I write them, upload them, then add in a bunch of stuff, and for some reason the space bars don't work well on it. I've fixed them in this one though, and I'll go back to fix the rest._

_The story is nearly over. What's to come next? I have about nine or so projects to work on, which can be viewed in my profile as well. Hope you stick around for them all.

* * *

_

**Avalanche**

"Danny!"

Sam screamed, hoping that maybe Danny would hear her across the distance that separated her from his and Ash's fight. It was all she was able to do. The Box Ghost had grabbed her from behind, like he had in her room, and took her to the edge of the trees. She grit her teeth together and pulled at her bonds to the tree, but to no avail, as the ghost laughedridiculously beside her, giving a speech about something or other that had to do with their final defeat.

Sometimes ghost hunting actually had its boring moments.

She whipped her head to the side to glare at him. Breathing deeply, she blew a strawberry at the ghost, nailing him on the cheek before he could become intangible.

"You dare to befoul the face of the Box Ghost!" he cried in rage, running a gloved hand over his face to wipe the spit from it.

A defiant smirk ran over Sam's face at his frustration. That was something she'd wanted to do for two years now. That was, before he did something she hadn't expected. He threw a small metal disc towards her face and it landed perfectlyon her mouth. Before she could blow it away, twoarms came out from the sides andattached to her cheeks. It wasn't painful, but it kept her from speaking. Her eyes grew round and she thrashed about, trying to shake it off of her face and yelping behind it.

"Now, BEWARE, insolent human, and pay for your foolishness!" he shouted, pulling a small box from behind him. Sam stared at the blue button as the ghost pressed it down. The cuffs around her wrists and ankles suddenly felt like seering hot metal against her skin. She threw her head back against the tree andtried to scream, but the mask muffled the sounds. She winced as the pain faded away, holding back small tears with all her energy.

Watching the scene play out before him from so far that he could barely make it out was Danny. He stared with his mouth open in surprise and fear for her. The Specter laughed behind him.

"Precious, precious Samantha," he spat mockingly. "Shame on you; you're supposed to be a hero. Aren't you going to save her, Danny?"

Danny didn't think, but felt his fists clench and his anger swell inside of him. The taunts and jokes about his forbidden feelings had reached their limits. He turned sharply and struck the Specter with as many ghost rays as he could send in sequence, the lights burning his eyes. The ghost was thrown off course, leaving Danny free to turn and race to the tree line as fast as he could.

The distance between them disappeared in seconds. His momentum carried him forward and he stuck his elbow out to meet the Box Ghost in the head, sending both of them into somersaults. The Box Ghost hit the button again as he struggled to hold on to it, and the burning sensation went through Sam's body again. She cried out into the mask, and this time Danny could easily see the pain she was in. He turned to the pudgy ghost and grabbed him by the wrist, wrestling the device from his hand and smashing it against a tree. Done with him, he threw the ghost against the tree as well.

For a moment he stood there, taking a moment and catching his breath and blowing the white hairs from his face before he heard Sam's desperate and annoyed noises behind him. He hit himself on his forehead and turned back to where Sam was pinned to the tree. The first thing he did was rip off the mask on her mouth, causing her to yelp in the minor sting.

"Are you okay?" he breathed.

"Don't worry, I'll live," she answered, moving her lips to ease them. She took a moment to study his slightly battered face and worried green eyes before snapping back to reality. Shaking her hands she said, "Try to get the cuffs off."

He nodded and reached up for the bonds on her wrists. As soon as he grasped he grasped them,ready to pull them out, an shock pulsated through his arms and down through the rest of his body. Crying out, he released them and fell backwards to the snow, his hands burning.

"Danny, no!" Sam leapt forward as Danny fell, trying to pull herself away. Groaning, she hit her head against the trunk. Stupid, stupid, of course the cuffs would deflect Danny's ghost powers! That should have been a given. As long as Danny had to fight Ash, he couldn't chance becoming human, which meant she was stuck on the tree until Danny beat him.

And if Danny failed to beat him and the avalanche began, she wouldn't be able to run.

Laughter filled the air from above the two. Danny opened his bleary eyes to see the Specter hovering upside down over him. He was definitely very amused by all of this."I've never actually had to put up a fight with any of the others," he explained. "I'm actually having a pretty good time seeing you squirm, you know."

Danny narrowed his green eyes in a deathly glare. He wanted no more than to constantly hit him with ray after ray until he fell from his smug little place in the sky into the Fenton thermos. His scowl met Avalanche's and the two were in a stand still for a few moments before Danny became invisible and slipped beneath the surface of the snow.

Avalanche straightened himself, put off at the sudden disappearance of the boy. His eyes scanned the snow around him searching for where he'd appear. He got his answer as he felt something cold and wet hit the back of his neck. Reaching back to wipe the snow from his back, he turned, growling with his red eyes glowing, at the set of three Danny Phantoms whistling innocently.

"You immature, little…" the Specter snarled, throwing his hands back and down onto two of the phantoms. The red beams hit them in their chests and one dissipated easily. The other grasped himself around his torso, wincing, but pushing the pain aside. He moved himself back next to the original Danny, who hadn't been touched. Both of them flew forward to begin the battle again.

The Specter lifted his hands and more red icicles formed from his ectoplasm beams. He sent three towards each Danny. The clone was able to protect himself, creating a ghost shield around him, but the others sliced Danny in his side. The familiar searing pain encompassed his side as he gripped the red wounds.

"And yet as fun as this is," said the Avalanche Specter, flying circles around Danny, "it is time consuming."

"Not for long," said both of the half-ghosts. Danny smiled and the double beside him faded away into nothingness. This daring action surprised the Specter, and he paused in front of Sam, staring at him. "There. I got onto you about playing fair," he explained, "so I guess I'll keep it that way."

Avalanche shook his head and chuckled. "You're really stupid. You know that?"

"Yep," he said. With that, he moved up against Ash, his fist prepared to nail him in skull when the Specter raised his hand and caught it. Danny's eyes widened in brief shock before the ghost tried to hit him, and he caught his hand. The two locked their eyes on each other challengingly, pushing against the others hands. "But at least I'm not as stupid as you."

A cry of pain escaped the Specter's mouth. Danny's hands glowed bright green as he pressed down on the Goth ghost's arms until he gave in and fell to the ground beneath them. He tumbled backward a few times, his long black hair, highlighted red in his ghost form, obscuring his vision.

Danny sighed and landed next to the Specter, placing his foot on his chest. "Don't worry, Avalanche. There's a lovely frozen tundra place in the Ghost Zone I'm sure you'll like," he said, reaching back to his belt to grab….

Oh, shit.

He groaned and patted himself around the waist as though it would suddenly appear. "I don't have the thermos!"

The Specter laughed beneath him and reached out to grasp Danny's ankle. He easily flung him aside and stood up, dusting the snow from his coat. "As if I'd allow myself to be trapped in a small cage again," he said.

_Again?_ Danny wondered as he pushed himself up from the snow.

"You've already experienced enough pain," he continued, walking over to Danny, his coat waving in the breeze. "Yet here you are, prolonging both yours and Sam's torture. It'd be so much easier if you'd just give in. She. Doesn't. Care. About. You. Why not just let her die," he growled, reaching down to Danny's head and pushing it into the snow.

No. Danny reached behind him and tried to grasp at the Specter's hands. No!

"And then what?"Sam suddenlyshouted, desperately trying to catch his attention. The silenceshe had upheld was becoming unbearable as she watched Ash lift Danny up by his hair. Ash was getting into his mind _again_, while Danny just kept using force. Ash had the upper hand when it came to that; why couldn't Danny see? If he wanted to weaken Ash, he had to work in the one field that he hadn't tried yet: psychology. But Danny wasn't good with that, and it wasn't like she could just tell him to play mind games with him.In a way, she felt relieved;_ finally_, something she could help with that she was damn good at, too.

It worked. Still holding Danny up by his white hair, Ash turned to face her. "What happens if he just lets us die?" Sam asked. "You're just going to keep doing this, over and over again. You're a ghost, Ash! You have eternity. Twenty years is nothing in your life. Twenty decades, twenty centuries… it'll just keep going on forever until no more people come here. And if you keep doing this," she added, silently, "then you'll just end up finding more girls like Alice. More girls like me. And you'll destroy them, too."

Ash blinked, his eyes locked on Sam. "So?" he said, sounding indifferent. Sam knew better. Little by little, she could eventually break him down.

"I know you don't want to do this, Ashton," she continued. "I know you don't really want to kill me. You have vulnerabilities. You didn't want to kill Alice either, no matter how much she hurt you. You just tell yourself that so that you'll feel better, don't you?" Ash didn't answer, but his eyes were slowly changing. "Don't you?"

"Shut up," he said. He meant it to sound threatening but his voice faltered. It was but a whisper. Danny looked up, wincing in discomfort, at the Specter's face, astonished at what was happening. How did Sam know what buttons to press? He obviously had missed something incredibly important. But Sam was doing very well at whatever it was… then again that wasn't to be unexpected, when he thought about it.

"How do you know that, in fact, the girls really did like all the boys you killed!" Sam suggested. "Maybe, in the end, all you did was make it to where the girl turned her back on the guy. All you would have been doing was causing them pain that neither of them would have had without you. You don't teach them a lesson; you cause their problems! Everything is your fault."

Danny was fixated on Sam now. She sounded so detached, so interrogative. She was working his way into his head. He couldn't help but be awed by her skill. It seemed as though she knew that everything she was saying was true.

"Alice could've had a chance to love you like you did!" Sam cried. "Just because she liked someone else for a while, that didn't mean she never liked you before them, Ash. It didn't mean she couldn't ever like you in the future! But now you'll never know. Why?Because she's dead. Just like you. Both of you are dead and you're just a love sick, crazy old ghost."

Danny's hair slipped through Avalanche's fingers. He fell to the ground, too entranced by what was happening to even try to hit the ghost.

"Who knows? She might even be a ghost, if you're lucky.What if she is a ghost? You might even see her again. But would she want to see you, after knowing what you've done to so many girls in her name?"

"Please…" Ash said. He fell to his knees; lost in a world only he could see. He looked up and stared longingly into Sam's uniquely colored eyes. "Alice, please. No, Alice…"

"She can't hear you Ash," Sam said coldly. She glared down at him, all of her pity for the pathetic creature leaving her as she channeled all of her anger into her words. "And you know what? She never will."

"No!" he yelled. His gaze turned from pleading Sam, Alice, whoever it was he saw talking, to anger. The Specter lifted his hand, glowing red, and before the boy behind him could do anything the stop him, red beams shot from his palm into Sam's chest.

"Sam!" Danny cried, running to where the two were.

"No!" Ash cried. As though he was suddenly realizing what he had done, he stared at his hands wide-eyed. Sam's body fell limp, but she was still awake. Her breathing was heavy, the only thing keeping her upright were the cuffs around her wrists. "No… Sam, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, Alice!" He fell in front of Sam's feet, looking horrified. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Alice!"

Sam could barely register what was going on. She felt weak, she wanted to pass out, but she couldn't allow herself to. She'd done what she meant to do. Of course, this was an unpleasant side effect.

Suddenly, Danny phased up from the thick snow between them, his raised fists making contact with his jaw, sending him back away from Sam. He floated in a defensive position in front of her and yelled…

"_Her name is not Alice!_"

As her thinking cleared and the shock of the blast she took began to wear off, she lifted her head and opened her eyes. The back of Danny's head obstructed her vision, but she could see that Ash was distressed. His expression was wild and desperate as he outstretched his hands and the white frozen snow around him began to glow blue before rising up in front of him.

Danny had to think of something to compliment Sam's efforts. He turned and saw her looking at him with a disoriented gaze. She'd been hurt badly; her human body couldn't take what his ghost form could take. Yet she couldn't distract him now. He had to make sure she had a chance of living, first.

He held his hands a foot apart from each other and channeled his ghost ray to the area between them. The collision had a tornado effect and a spiraling ball of ghost energy appeared. He stretched his arms out and the sphere grew wider and wider until it emitted a bright green light around him. It grew until he couldn't open his arms any longer. He was beginning to lose his energy, anyway.

The Specter, with his large, blue snowball, and Danny, with his weapon, stared at each other for brief seconds before Avalanche yelled something incoherent and the snow was sent straight for him. He pushed forward with all his might and the ghost energy flew to collide with the snow. The warm ectoplasm easily cut through the snow, and carried on to where the Specter floated in midair.

As Ash flipped backwards through the air, his coat flew back around his head, revealing a belt around his side. Sam, her strength nearly back to her, saw a brief flash of metal. She gasped.

"He's got the thermos!" she yelled as loudly as her voice would let her.

"What?" He turned back to her, disbelieving. "He's had it the whole time? Aah!" His hand flew to the back of his shoulder, which had been pierced by another icicle. Those blasted things were way to nifty for his sake.

"You have too..." Sam said weakly, "get it from Ash. Forget about me right now, just go... get the thermos."

Danny nodded, understanding that getting rid of the Specter was the best way to keep them safe. "Where is it?"

"On his belt, right side."

In a black and white blur Danny sped to the Specter. "You couldn't hit me if you tried," he said. No time to think up clever puns, he had to work quickly.

Avalanche took the threat and lifted his right arm to stun him. With his side exposed, Danny saw the thermos attached to a holster in his belt. He dove for it at once, but at the last moment the ghost realized what he'd seen and dodged out of the way, pulling his cloak tight around him.

"No, no, Danny," he said, shaking his finger. "I can't have you trapping me within this soup can of yours, can I, when there's still so much that I have to do. I think I'll keep it with me. Maybe I can keep that crazy Box Ghost in it once you're gone."

Danny muttered under his breath exactly where the Specter should keep the thermos.

The Specter raised his glowing red hands and brought them down, aiming for Danny who was now flying around him. "Say that to my face, punk!"

Danny orbited Avalanche and once again rocketed for his left side. This time he was prepared, though. He grabbed Danny's arm, pulling it behind his back and holding him tight.

"Why do you still even fight?" he hissed. "Are you really this stupid? I'm sick of trying to tell you that she doesn't love you!"

"OH MY _GOD_!" Sam screeched, knocking her head against the tree trunk."BOTH of you are really this stupid!I'M sick of hearing what I feel from you two when you don't even get the fact that _I like Danny_!"

Time seemed to stop as both Ash and Danny stared at the girl before them.

"WHAT?" Ash bellowed, tightening his grip on Danny's arm. His round, green eyes locked on Sam, both angry and disbelieving.

Wincing, Danny grasped for the fabric of Ash's coat with the little arm space he had. Once he had a grip, he sent an ectoplasmic shock through it, his Ghost Stinger surging into him. He cried out and let go of Danny reflexively.

"How's that for a taste of your own medicine?" Danny asked, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. Ash didn't seem to notice, though. He was still turned toward Sam, his mouth agape.

"How... How can that be possible? You told me you didn't care for him that way! You said you cared for me!"

Sam closed her eyes and shook her head. "I lied."

Danny smiled behind the furious glare he was giving Ash. "Guess you're at a loss this year, huh?"

Ash shut his eyes tight and shook his head, clearing his mind of the questions flooding it. "Then that means... that I have to do it this time... I have to do it myself again. Like Alice."

Danny didn't know what he was talking about, and he didn't care. A new hope had risen inside of him, along with his anger at the now vulnerable teenager in his hands. He ducked his hand into his cloak and pulled the Fenton Thermos from his belt, popping the lid open. "But you know," he said thoughtfully, "there's one more thing I'd like to do before I send you to the Ghost Zone."

Ash moved his gaze from Sam to Danny, locking his eyes with him. "Just because it turns out she cares for you doesn't mean you have nothing to fear... because my heart is still broken, and my cries still resound through these mountains, even if yours won't."

With that, both Danny and Ash opened their mouths, inhaled deeply, and...

Danny was violentlythrown away from Ash. His Ghostly Wail had been released simutaneously with whatever heartbroken sound came from Ash. The two forces had collided, equal in strength, and both were pushed backwards by them.

Below, Sam screamed, but it was barely audible above the two wails feet from her. She could feel herself being pushed against the tree, her ribs ready to collapse as the tree began to bend backward, the roots nearest to the ghosts lifting up, but still standing. A ringing sound in her ears once the voices began tofade caused her to believe her ears were bleeding.

Ash's cry of sorrow ended, and he fell to his knees in the snow, weakened by the cry. Yards away he noticed Danny fall, as well, struggling to stay in his ghost form. He fell face down into the snow. Now, all Ash had to do was wait for...

The sounds of rumbling above them.

He laughed to himself, standing to his feet. He looked up menacingly at Danny, who was beginning to push himself up. "Too late. Any moment now, the avalanche will reach you, and you're too weak to do anything about it... it doesn't matter if Precious Samantha chose you in time. That is a first. By the way, that's a nifty power you have. Here I was thinking I was the only ghost with a voice so powerful. Oh, and Sam," he added, looking to her, "I am sorry. I really did like you, both for Alice and yourself. Too bad, though, isn't it?"

Sam met his gaze and smirked. "Too bad," she said hoarsely.

"For you," said a voice behind Ash.

Ash swerved around and saw Danny's face inches from him, smiling. Something hit him in the stomach. Looking down, he saw the Fenton Thermos pressed against his chest. Before he could say a word, he felt himself pulled into the small space and then, he could see nothing.

The faint rumbling behind Danny was beginning to get louder. He turned around and sawthe weapon Ash had used to kill them. A huge surge of snow was coming down the side of the mountain, growing closer with every second.

"Danny, help me out of this thing!" Sam said, shaking her fists. Danny ran over to her and almost touched the cuffs before realizing he couldn't. He transformed into Fenton, and grabbed a hold of the bonds. Though well built as a human, he was stronger as a ghost, and the cuffs didn't seem to want to budge.

Sam watched past Danny at the avalanche growing closer and closer to them. "Hurry!"

"I'm trying!" he gasped, putting a foot against the trunk and yanked. Finally the tree released it and it flew behind him. He grabbed the other cuff and this time, with Sam's help, pulled it out as well. After disconnecting her ankles from the tree, Sam dropped to the ground and grabbed Danny around the neck.

"You did it!" she said, overjoyed. "You won. We're alive."

Danny hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go of her. Everything that had just happened was beginning to melt away in the warmth. "Not if we don't get out of here," he whispered. He slinked his arm around her waist and closed her eyes and tried to go ghost.

Nothing happened.

"Oh, no," he said. "No, no, no!"

"What is it?"

"I can't go ghost," he explained."The wail took away all my strength again!"

With these words Sam clung herself to him, closing her eyes to shut out the sounds of the approaching cascade. "Yes, you can. Keep trying."

He did, and after the third time, the familiar rings appeared around his waist. The two looked fearfully at the snow, now only a few yards away, the wind blowing in their faces. "Fly, Danny, fly!" Sam screamed as she felt her feet lifted from the ground.

The avalanche continued below them, blanketing the very tree Sam had been attached to quickly. Danny sighed in relief, leaning his head on Sam's shoulder. The two floated in midair for a few moments, taking their first chance at rest for all it was worth.

"Sam?" he finally whispered into her shoulder.

"Yes, Danny?" she replied.

Danny smiled softly into Sam's sweater, not allowing her to see his expression as her words came back to her. "Did you really mean what you told the Specter?"

Sam blinked as she remembered what she'd screamd and felt her stomach flip. "Um... first, his name is Ash, Danny. Second... yes." She wrapped her other arm around his neck. "I do."

Danny sighed again. "I've been waiting to here that for the past week."

"Only a week?" Sam laughed. "I've been waiting a year, thank you very much. You've finally caught up, though."

Danny lifted his head and pressed it against her forehead. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. "Yeah, I finally did catch you," he said before leaning in and kissing her softly on her lips. The kiss didn't last long, but the embrace that followed it did.

"So," Sam finally said. "What exactly are we going to tell everyone about what happened?"

"You mean besides that I was totally crushing on you and an evil misguided ghost kidnapped you, I fought him, started a huge avalanche which is still going on, and got the girl?"

Sam nodded her head. With that, Danny started flying south in the general direction of the resort, where maybe, if he was lucky, he could get in at least one day of vacation before the trip was over.

* * *

_Author's Notes: I thank you all for sticking in with me, telling me what you thought of how I wrote, critiquing me, what you thought of Ash, and yelling at me to update. Definitely the fastest I've ever written anything in my life. All your support got this thing over with. All I can say now is: review, critique, and wait for the epilogue of Cold As Ice._

_Saramis Kismet_


	13. Cleaning Up

**Cold As Ice**

_Author's Note: Never thought my first Danny Phantom fic would do so well… wow. Thank you all for the critiques and the praise, I don't know how many times I can say it._

_Hmm... pretty long epliogue I think. But I had to leave you guys hanging with something .

* * *

_

**One Last Surprise**

The man sitting behind the desk folded back the newspaper, his hands tense and a muscle above his eye twitching. He sighed and leaned back into the luxurious leather chair, crossing his legs in a relaxing position. How was it that the boy had yet again escaped from one of his captured ghosts?

Probably because this time, he hadn't planned on another ghost coming across his prison.

Before Vlad had known of the existence of Danny Phantom, he had made it a hobby of his to hunt down ghosts that roamed the mortal plane. They were usually simple to find just by looking into folklore and nonsense legends.

Once he realized that the Avalanche Specter was of no use to him – this particular ghost seemed even more incessant to remain where he was than was typical – and that he in no way would simply release him from the chest, he abandoned the chest in a storage room of a museum in Amity Park. Why? Because he had decided to discard of Avalanche after he had heard of the Amity Park ghost hybrid that used his powers to defend humans. Still, though, before the college reunion.

By the time he had learned the insufferable thieving ghost had accidentally released the Specter, he had already begun to weave a plan in his own expertise that would, coincidentally, cause some form of psychological harm to the boy. He greatly doubted that he would die at the hands of the Specter though – the girl, possibly, but him?

So he had let Avalanche play his little games of self-pity and guilt around the boy. He had kept track of the happenings with both the national news and his own resources.

What the reporters and journalists were saying now was unacceptable. Both had returned, completely unscathed. And here he thought that the Specter had a good reputation…

He pushed the chair back and stood. No matter. Since this whole thing was an unexpected turn, the fact that it failed hadn't affected his agenda much. Becoming intangible, he slowly slipped below the carpeted flooring and disappeared from the room. He found himself in his own laboratory. Since he'd rebuilt it, it looked uncannily like the Fenton Works lab. Then again, what form of décor would look decent in a ghost research facility?

Of course, Vlad was able to find the best opportunities from any situation. The boy had just gone through a few days of searching and fighting a rather powerful ghost. Though there were no permanent scars, he was still in the process of healing both body and psyche. If he was ever to take a chance, soon was very much better than later.

He transformed into Plasmius and pressed a small purple button on one of the control panels.

* * *

"Yesterday the missing children were found at last, roughly two miles from the resort they'd been residing in. Samantha Manson and Daniel Fenton were unharmed, save for a few minor injuries.

"However, mysteries still remain amongst the locals in the area. An hour before the missing were found, scans of the area reported an avalanche had occurred. The site of the natural disaster was over five miles from where the two children were found. The children say that they had gone out to search for the other missing people, Rachel Kline and Paul Tollison, but had failed to join a search party.

"These explanations _would_ contradict signs of ghost involvement in the recent events. An official statement from Commander Newhart tells us otherwise. Shortly after Fenton and Manson were found, a letter signed as Phantom reads that the Avalanche Specter, rumored kidnapper of the four children, did indeed exist, but that he wouldn't haunt the mountain range any longer. Since then many believe that the Amity Park resident ghost is the one who wrote this message. It's yet to be decided whether or not the –"

The television screen went black as Danny raised the remote, a cell phone between the nook of his shoulder and his ear. "You mean you heard about it all the way in Florida?" he asked into the phone.

"It's been on the national news since the first missing case," said Jazz. "I pretty much knew that, A, Mom and Dad would go up there and bother you, and B, that you'd somehow be involved."

"I was involved, alright," he said, tossing the remote on to the couch. After he and Sam took down the Specter, Ash, or whatever he was called, they flew to right outside of where they say the search parties and waited to be found. When they got back, they had to bear through a few hours of chastising and news cameras being shoved in their faces, but he'd found the time to slip a message to Newhart that yes, a ghost existed in the mountains. Not that he had anything to do with kidnapping Sam, but just to shove it in her face a little.

"Are you absolutely sure you're okay, though?"

"Jazz, I'm fine," he said. "Except for the fact that I got no relaxation whatsoever and that my brain was pretty much friend for ten days, I'm as good as I can be." He opened the door to the kitchen and noticed his parents sitting at the table. It would due to not talk so openly. "So, even though your hundreds of miles away, you're still going to bug me, aren't you?"

"You said you wouldn't have it any other way."

"Quit reminding me."

"Oh, Danny, there you are," said Maddie. "Where were you?"

"Oh, uh," he mumbled. "Just, you know, taking a walk." He made sure the Fenton Thermos was tucked safely in his back pocket.

His mother stood from the table and brought her dirty dishes to the sink. "Well, Sam and Tucker came over while you were out and we invited them in," she explained. She smiled while her back was turned. "They're in your room, so you might want to go up there."

Danny raised an eyebrow and then said into the phone, "I have to go. Talk to you later."

"Sure you're fine?"

"_YES_ Jazmine," he answered. "Bye." He shut his cell phone and ran up the stairs, leaving Maddie and Jack in the kitchen.

She looked to her husband, an all-knowing smile on her face. "What do you think, Jack? You think Danny's okay after last week?"

He nodded, his mouth currently chewing bacon.

"Yeah." She turned back to the sink. "And Sam, too."

* * *

Danny opened his door cautiously. "Uh, guys?" The lights inside weren't on. He reached over to flip the switch and stepped inside.

"SURPRISE!"

Danny yelped and threw his fists up, ready to go ghost before seeing Tucker and Sam in his room, holding up a home-decorated cake with the words Happy Birthday Phantom written in blue in his face. Two lit candles were dangerously close to his nose.

"Uhh..."

"Jeez, man, calm down, it's just us," said Tucker.

Danny relaxed and eyed the cake. Tucker stood there, holding the cake with greedy fingers, and Sam stood next to him leaning to one side and smiling, amused by his reaction. "What's this?" he asked.

"Well," Sam said, "seeing as how we promised you we'd celebrate both your birthdays, and that we never got the chance to –"

"For a couple of reasons," Tucker said, smirking at the two. The glared, but dropped it quickly.

"We figured that we'd make it up to you," she finished.

Danny looked at the cake and smiled. He leaned over the cake and blew out the candles, allowing Tucker to dig into the chocolate cake as much as he wanted. Sam took a piece in a napkin and looked at Danny, who hadn't moved to have a slice. She walked over to him, worried. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Mostly," he said, slipping his hand into Sam's. "Don't start worrying about me too much, though, just because of this. That's Jazz's job."

Sam smiled softly and held up her slice, which Danny took a bite from.

"It's kind of sad that it took a ghost attack," said Tucker through his full mouth, "for you two to finally get over your pride." He swallowed and leaned back on the bed."Or, in Danny's case, denial."

Sam looked back at Danny, her eyebrows knit together. "Speaking of Ash," she said, "do you think that maybe, Alice is a ghost? You think that she's in the Ghost Zone?"

Danny shrugged. "If she is, he might want to not tell her about the last twenty years, huh?"

Sam sighed and leaned against Danny. Her downcast eyes bored into the floor as she considered. Not everyone turned into ghosts. Would Alice have? Why did she care so much? Because Ash... even though she had Danny, and she was still pissed off, she did feel bad for him whenever he was remotely human.

"Hey, Sam," said Tucker from Danny's bed, "if you want to give Danny his birthday present, I can always –"

Sam shot him a malicious look and said, "I thought I told you you're too young to be talking like that."

Danny smirked and winked at Tucker while Sam wasn't looking. "So, I don't have a birthday present?" he whined.

Sam rolled her eyes and laughed. "Maybe later."

* * *

_Author's Note: Okay, NOW we're officially done… mostly. Still working out the bits and pieces. Hope this gave you something to whine about, though . You'll have to wait until I'm done with a separate story, though. So leave me some reviews and I'll start up my next story ASAP._

_Saramis Kismet_


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